Til Death Do Us Part
by DragonShadow
Summary: A powerful menace is stalking Danny, hunting him across the world and even into the Ghost Zone. Now Danny will unravel the deepest secrets of the Ghost Zone and tap into the greatest power in the universe to save himself and the entire world.
1. The Monster is Loose

Author's Notes

1: This is it, a huge multi-chapter Danny Phantom fanfic. Those who've read my work before know the drill. One chapter per day until it's all posted, so keep checking back.  
2: The chapters in this one are significantly shorter than in my other multi-chapter works. This is to hopefully help the pace of the story keep moving from scene to scene and character to character.

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 01: The Monster is Loose

Danny Fenton sat at the powerful science computer in the basement laboratory of his home, tapping away at the keyboard while the faces of his two friends, Sam and Tucker, shined back from the glowing screen. Behind the windows of their images was a world of science and magic... mostly magic though. Danny yelled victoriously as his virtual sword sliced through several 3-D images, which quickly vanished from sight.

"Yes! Six orcs and not a single point of damage taken! Think you can beat that Sam?" Danny grinned.

"Hmm, I don't know. I'll do my best." Sam rolled her eyes as her character waved a hand, sending a blast of fire in a wide radius to kill eight at once.

"Hey, no magic allowed in this challenge." Tucker whined. "That defeats the entire purpose of the game!"

"Hey, you get to use your magic sword. Why can't I use my magic powers?" Sam rebutted.

"Because it's cheating!" Tucker whined again.

Danny chuckled and shook his head, stepping into one of his friends' arguments for the thousandth time since they'd begun hanging out. "Come on guys, anything goes. That's what we agreed on. And I think it's the fair way to-" He stopped suddenly as a gasp of air escaped his throat. A soft blue mist rose from his lips, drifting only a few inches before dissipating into the air. His head jerked to the side as the heavy steel doors that blocked off the portal to the Ghost Zone began to open on their own with a heavy squeal.

"Danny? Are you okay?" Sam asked from her computer window. Danny pushed his chair back and rose from his seat, waiting to see what emerged. When nothing did he shook his head.

"Yeah, I think the Fenton Portal's on the fritz again. Give me a second." Danny set down his radio headset and turned to approach the ghost portal. The swirling green vortex that led into the other dimension looked as peaceful as it ever got. Danny looked into its depths for a few moments, still waiting for something to emerge and attack. Nothing did, though, and his Ghost Sense didn't go off again. With a shrug Danny reached out and pressed the large red button beside the portal, causing the large steel doors to screech and begin to slide closed.

"I have got to remind dad to oil those things." Danny shook his head and turned to walk back to his computer. The Fenton Portal doors closed behind him as he slid back into his seat and slipped his headset on. "Okay guys, let's get this show on the-"

Danny stopped speaking and his head jerked to the side when the sound of metal sliding on metal echoed from the Fenton Portal. A massive blade was sticking through the solid steel, easily the size of Danny's forearm. The teenager whirled to his feet in a surprised panic as the blade suddenly slashed across the length of the portal, slicing the twin doors in half along a horizontal line. They slowly collapsed inward in four pieces, hitting the floor in front of the portal with deafening metallic clangs.

"I don't know what you are..." Danny clenched his fists as the ectoplasm surged through his body, bubbling to the surface as his body began to change. His white T-shirt and blue jeans were replaced suddenly by a sleek black and white suit. His baby blue eyes pulsed with green energy and his hair faded into a snow-white hue. "But I know you didn't just make a mess in my dad's basement. He makes me work very hard to keep this place clean."

The portal remained still for a moment, but Danny could feel the air beginning to chill around him. His breath came in deeper, shuddering gasps and he could see his breath fogging the air in front of him. His arms wrapped around his torso for warmth, his heart beginning to race. He'd never felt a presence like this. It was as if sheer ectoplasmic power was radiating from the portal. He was used to facing beings of ectoplasm, but not like this.

Danny stepped back from the portal, ignoring the worried pleas of his friends from the computer screen to tell them he was alright. Their voices grew desperate, but Danny ignored them. He was transfixed by the sight emerging from the portal before him. It was a massive figure, little more than a cloak emerging from the Ghost Zone. It floated two feet from the ground without legs, and the cloak was easily two heads taller than Danny. A pair of frail skeletal hands were the only part of it that was visible as it floated forth, the fingers of one hand clutched around the pole of a scythe whose blade was as long as Danny was tall.

"W-w-w-well..." Danny's teeth chattered against the cold and his own nervousness. "I s-s-s-see you've studied th... the book of ghost clichés..." Danny's voice was weak and barely audible.

"Daniel Fenton." A deep voice spoke, though not from anywhere inside the room. It was as if it simply existed inside Danny's mind, like a thought forced into him from the outside. "Your time has passed."

"W-wait... what?" Danny asked in surprise, his heart skipping a beat. He didn't want to believe it. He never would have believed it before. But this presence was unbearable and unmistakable. "Y... you're... you're him..." Danny stuttered. "Wh-what do you want with me?"

"You are a spirit of the Otherworld." One skeletal hand raised toward him, beckoning him forward. "Your time passed long ago. It is time to come with me."

"What!?" Danny exclaimed in shock. "No, it's a mistake! I may be a ghost but look!" Danny allowed himself to drop back into his human form, looking down at his unexceptional body. "See? I'm still alive!"

"Your time has passed. Fear not, child. The next world is a world where you can become everything you could never be here. Truly happy." The specter held out one hand, as if waiting for Danny to approach. The cold aura continued to emanate from the depths of the robes, which flowed through the air on unnatural winds.

"No... no! I won't!" Danny stumbled back as his body became ghostly again. "This is a mistake!" Danny fired a pair of ecto blasts straight into the cloak, but the energy from the blasts spread through the cloak, as if infusing it and only making the ghost stronger.

"Eternity waits for no man, Daniel Fenton. You do not wish to resist, it can lead to only pain."

"Get away from me!" Danny stumbled back, firing several more ecto-blasts, which did little more than spread through the robes and scythe. Danny's eyes pulsed with blue light as a stream of cold energy flowed through the air and into the robes. But the results were no better now. The being hovering before him approached slowly, gliding over the ground in his direction. Danny could feel his teeth chattering as he slowly fell to his knees, trying desperately to hold onto the warmth of his body.

"S... so cold..." Danny stuttered. He could see the metal computer desk beginning to fog over, and the glass of water he'd been drinking shattered into hundreds of pieces leaving a block of ice on the table. The faces of his friends were gone since the cold had destroyed the electrical wiring of the computer. "I w-won't go! I won't go!" Danny launched himself into the air, phasing through the ceiling and up through the ground until he emerged into glistening crimson sun of dusk.

Danny whirled back to the ground, his fists glowing brightly at his sides. His breath came in quick gasps and his heart pounded the fear and adrenaline through his body. He waited for several agonizing minutes, but the figure didn't emerge to give chase.

His heart almost broke his ribcage when his cell phone rang. Shaking hands fumbled to lift it out of his pocket, seeing Sam's name on the front before he held it to his ear. "S-Sam..."

"Danny? What the heck? You just suddenly logged off." Sam said. "The Box Ghost giving you a hard time?"

"Sam, I'm coming over." Danny gulped, trying to keep his shaking voice under control. "I don't think I can stay here tonight. Call Tucker too."

"Danny? What-" Sam sounded genuinely worried now.

"Please, I'll be there soon." Danny slapped his cell phone shut between his palms and turned to fly through the air over Amity Park. The setting sun was usually beautiful from this height, but tonight it seemed to cast an ominous, blood red pallor over the city. A red that only grew deeper as the sun dipped further into the horizon.

Danny avoided the growing shadows as he flew, and made it to Sam's mansion without incident. He phased through the wall of her bedroom, landing on her soft carpet heavier than he'd intended. He stumbled from the impact into one of the bedposts that held the velvet black drapes over her bed. His body faded into its human form as he held onto it to gain his composure.

"Whoa, careful there... D-Danny? You're shaking." Sam rushed over to him from the stereo system set inside one of the far walls. When she touched his arm with her bare hands she gasped. "Oh man, you're freezing!"

"It was cold..." Danny told her.

"Here, come on, my blankets are warm." Sam pulled her friend away from the bedpost and pushed him into the middle of the bed, wrapping him in the thick sheets like a cocoon.

"I, I couldn't fight. I, my ecto blasts didn't work and, and I couldn't get close. It was too cold." Danny said through chattering teeth.

"Wait... it's at your place? What about Jazz and your parents?!" Sam said in alarm. "We should warn them!"

"N-no!" Danny's hand lashed out to grab her arm before she could reach the phone. When she looked back at him Danny nodded slowly, looking into her strong violet eyes. "He won't hurt them. He's after me."

"Who is, Danny?" Sam asked seriously. Danny didn't respond, his grip on her hand beginning to loosen. Sam moved away from the telephone and turned her attention toward him as he lay back in the thick blankets. "Danny, what the heck happened? Who came out of the portal?"

"I..." Danny gulped and shook his head, trying to remember it more clearly. His mind seemed strangely fuzzy at the moment.

Sam gripped one of his hands between both of hers. The warmth felt wonderful against his freezing skin. "Danny, who or what did this to you? We can help you beat it like we always do."

Danny sat up and put his free hand in his hair, trying to remember the tales he'd heard from the ghosts. "When people die, they don't go straight to the Ghost Zone." Danny gulped. "Someone has to collect their soul from here and take it there. By force if necessary. I've heard some of the ghosts talk about him before, but I didn't think I'd ever actually see him here in the real world."

"Who...?" Sam asked, her own voice shaking. She'd never seen Danny's face so pale, his tone so sullen.

Danny turned to look into her eyes. "They call him the Reaper. He thinks since I'm a ghost, I should be dead. Which makes sense but I'm... I'm not. Am I?"

"Of course you're not." Sam scoffed. "This guy sounds like an idiot to me." Sam suddenly shivered, a full body twitch that traveled up her back to her head. "Geeze. I thought dad had the A/C fixed yesterday."

"No... no, it's him. This place isn't safe!" Danny scrambled out of her bed, backing away from her toward the wall. "I've got to get out of here. You stay here and he won't hurt you."

"What? You can't be serious! Danny!" Sam shouted in anger. "You are not leaving me behind in this!"

"We don't have time, just trust me!" Danny whirled away from her, sprinting toward the wall as his body shifted into the black and white suit that accompanied his ghost transformation. He leapt at the wall, but was surprised when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist right before he went intangible, phasing both himself and Sam through the wall into the next room.

Danny stumbled to the floor on the other side of the wall, once again becoming solid. Sam was still clinging to his waist like a leech. Her eyes were vicious and her lip was curled up into a snarl as she stared up at him.

"Sam! Get off! This ghost is too powerful for you to face, just trust me!" Danny screamed angrily.

"No Danny!" Sam shouted back with equal fire. "This ghost did something to you that no other ghost has, and I won't let him do it again! I'm coming with you!" Danny opened his mouth to respond, but Sam grabbed his shoulders and shoved him onto the floor with a heavy thud. Danny yelped as he bit his own tongue from the force of the push. Sam glared down at him, panting heavily from her exertions. "We always trust you to help us, even when it seems hopeless for you. Let me do the same for you now!"

Danny had never seen Sam like this before. Well, not toward him at least. The only time she had this fierce, passionate expression on her face was when she was fighting for something she truly cared about. It was a face that meant whoever argued with her had better be prepared for either a lecture of a mouthful of broken teeth.

A silent nod was all Danny could manage, stunned as he was. It was then that he noticed the cold seeping into the room around them, causing them both to shiver against one another. They both climbed to their feet, standing side-by-side with their elbows touching as they scanned the empty bedroom. The ornate mirror lined with jewel began to frost over, until suddenly the mirror shattered, spraying shards of itself on the thick carpet. The sound of the window behind them shattering made them both whirl in time to see the voluminous robes from before hovering in through the window, the massive scythe glinting blood red in the little light that shown through the window. The skeletal hands and dark, faceless hood left Sam speechless for several long moments while they faced each other.

"I hope you don't regret this." Danny said through chattering teeth and wounded tongue.

"Regret later. Now RUN!" Sam gripped Danny's hand tightly in hers and ran for the bedroom door. This time the figure didn't fall back or pace them, it flew after them, the massive scythe arching through the air. The blade sliced through the doorframe and the wall behind it like they didn't even exist. The house groaned as if in pain, but Sam and Danny were already halfway down the hall toward the staircase.

Danny leapt forward, wrapping his arms around Sam's waist as he phased them through the floor to get away from the floating figure. The blade flashed in another arc that cut through the ceiling and floor without stopping. The blade shot through the floor after them, and Danny howled in pain as it cut through the muscles of his left leg. It bit deep, deep enough for Danny's concentration to break as he and Sam tumbled through the air to the first floor amid a shower of debris from the ceiling.

Danny groaned in pain as blood flowed from the wound, curling up to clutch at his leg with both hands. Sam climbed off of him and grabbed his arm, hauling it around her shoulders. "No time for that now, Danny. We've got to move!"

Another slash split the roof open over their heads. Sam barely pulled Danny out of the way of the falling pieces of the ceiling, pulling him roughly against the wall beside the door to the kitchen. The robed figure floated down amid the debris, visible only by the deep green glow of the scythe blade shining through the dust. The ghost was floating between them and the front door, so Sam pulled Danny toward the kitchen. He limped desperately behind her, leaving a trickle of blood with every step.

Sam pulled Danny roughly into the kitchen. She was the most physically fit of the trio of friends, but Danny was no lightweight and she was running on pure adrenaline now. Danny allowed himself to be dragged through the large kitchen toward the back door, though a glance back told him that the specter was still stalking them, the scythe now also glistening with Danny's blood.

"Leave me..." Danny said softly. He was beginning to feel faint, more than likely because of the rather large amount of his blood now spread across the mansion floor.

"Shut up." Sam replied, finally yanking him fully onto her back and taking off toward the door as fast as she could run. The robed figure stopped stalking them and thrust itself at them, bringing the scythe around in a shining arc. Sam yelled in a panic and lurched toward the sliding glass door that led out into the back yard. One foot slammed into the other tripping her up and sending her tumbling slowly to the ground. The scythe flashed overhead, cutting the air as cleanly as it sliced the glass door in half.

Sam grunted as her knees slammed into the kitchen floor, but with a grunt of effort she pushed herself up from the floor and slammed shoulder-first into the glass. The two large shards of glass popped out of the door, crashing to the ground in a shower of broken shards that Sam's boots crushed as she took off around the Olympic sized swimming pool built into her backyard.

Sam stopped momentarily in surprise when the white-gloved hand on her shoulder faded to a normal flesh-colored one. Realizing that the figure on her back had gone limp, her heart leapt in her throat. "Danny, don't you dare be dead back there! Or I'll kick your ghostly ass!" She grunted and continued to run around the pool, not daring to glance back toward her attacker until she had reached the forest edge.

A glance back showed that the ghostly figure hadn't moved from in front of the back door. Its robe billowed outward in the wind, but it did not move. It just floated in place, watching them with its hands clutching the scythe in front of its body. Sam didn't take too long to puzzle out why it wasn't following them, but thanked her good fortune and turned to run into the forest.

She ran until she her legs shook and her breath came in pained gasps, fueled by a stomach that began to burn with every pant. At last she collapsed to her stomach in the forest, gasping for air with Danny lying limp across her back. "D-Danny!" Sam rolled over from her stomach, carefully lowering Danny to the grass where she could bend over him to examine his face. She shook her head with relief when she saw he was still breathing, but he still looked paler than normal.

A cold chill swept down her back even though the wind couldn't penetrate the thick forest. She gripped Danny tightly to her chest as her gaze darted around the forest in alarm. Her body shuddered deeper as the cold grew colder, enshrouding her like a blanket. She held Danny's cheek against her chest, closing her eyes and pulling him closer. His body was quite warm, a heat source that kept her teeth from audibly chattering.

Between a couple of trees in the distance she saw a black cloak pass through the forest. For a moment she was sure it would turn their way. But in a few moments it simply turned and left, disappearing in a different direction. Her pounding heart slowly began to steady, the rush of adrenaline leaving her body as she clutched Danny close to her. They had both made it out alive. But that thing was still out there.

Pushing it out of her mind she turned her attention to Danny. The wound on his leg was deep, and though the bleeding had slowed it hadn't stopped completely. He'd lost so much blood she had to stop it now or she might lose him completely. So she began to treat it as best she could. She refused to lose him to anything. Not even the Reaper himself.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	2. Moonlight Sonata

Till Death Do Us Part Chapter 02: Moonlight Sonata

The moon had risen a long time ago, replacing the bright warmth of the sun with a cool glow that Sam normally found refreshing. But her mind was far from refreshed or relaxed as she leaned back against the trunk of a tall tree. Not that she could see much of the moon through the thick foliage anyway. The moonlight barely shone through enough to reveal Danny's body lying on the grass, his head resting on a pillow made of her folded legs while a makeshift bandage made of folded vines and grass wrapped around his leg to stop the blood flow.

It had been hours since the attack, and though she'd been left exhausted she was wide awake. She couldn't go to sleep, not with that thing out there looking for Danny. It left so many questions open and she couldn't figure out any of them. How did the blade cut through Danny's intangible form? How did it find Danny at her place? And why come for Danny now after more than a year had passed since the accident?

With a sigh she pushed the questions out of her mind for the hundredth time that evening. It was pointless to think about it when she had no clues to the answers. Instead she focused on her friend's face, calm and serene as his breath lightly brushed against the skin of her exposed stomach. She couldn't help but smile. She had really done it. After all the times he'd saved her life, and the lives of everyone in Amity Park. She'd finally been able to save his life. It was a wonderful feeling, one that she knew she would treasure as long as she could. And one she always wanted to feel.

She felt Danny's head stir in her lap, his eyelids fluttering for a moment before opening fully. His blue eyes stared up at the foliage before turning to look up at her. Sam smiled down at him. "My hero." She said with a wry smirk. It lasted only a moment before she became more serious. "How are you holding up?"

"I feel weak." Danny replied softly.

"You lost a lot of blood back there. But don't worry. I paid attention in Wilderness Survival class. I think you're going to be fine as long as the cut doesn't get infected." Sam told her friend. He tried to sit up, so she placed one hand on his back and pushed him to an upright position. "You should try not to move too much yet. You need time to rest."

"Rest? That thing is still out there. How can I rest now?" Danny's voice was shuddering too much to shout, but the tone in his voice was clear.

"Hey don't raise your voice at me." Sam retorted. "I didn't do anything but save your-"

"You're right." Danny interrupted her. Sam stopped short, choking on her own words as Danny spoke completely out of the blue. "I'm sorry... and thank you." He looked at her and gave her a dashing, if tired, half-smile. It was in moments like these, when Danny was being sincere and himself outside of the super heroics and the pressures of school life, that Sam saw in him everything he could be.

Sam blushed and looked away from him nervously. "Hey... what else are friends for right? Besides sharing cookies and sandwiches, we also save lives." She avoided his eyes for a moment by looking down at his leg. The wound had turned into a vicious looking scab underneath the makeshift bandage, but it failed to change color, which was a good sign that they had been lucky enough to avoid infection. "You probably shouldn't walk on that for a while."

"I can always fly." Danny replied.

"Might not be such a great idea either." Sam replied. "He followed you to my place while you were flying. For all we know that's some kind of tip off. We need to be cautious here." Danny gulped and nodded. "The only question is, what do we do now?"

Danny was all business now, which made it easy for Sam to forget her nervousness from a moment ago. "I don't want to go to your place or mine. That's too predictable. We need someplace the ghost would never look for me." Danny said. Sam agreed and they both lapsed into a long, thoughtful silence. The hoot of an owl nearby made both of them jump. Sam nearly jumped right into Danny's lap, grabbing his shoulders in an intense death grip while Danny clutched at her waist.

"Geeze..." Sam blushed again and moved away from him. "I think we need to take it easy."

"Yeah, and get somewhere safe." Danny nodded. Sam took his arm and helped him climb to his feet, holding him up so he didn't have to stand on his bad leg. "If this ghost somehow knows everything about me, then it could be watching Tucker and his house. So that's out. Jazz is at my house and obviously would be associated with me. Who else do we know who likes Danny Fenton?"

"Hmm." Sam narrowed her eyes and looked straight ahead to avoid him. "I can think of someone. And she just might be the only person we can go to now." She added in a mumble. "As much as it pisses me off."

"What was that?" Danny asked.

"I have a bit of a cough." Sam feigned coughing into one hand. "Come on, we should get out of this forest and into a nice, warm house."

Sam pulled her friend through the forest, helping him move without putting a lot of weight on his left leg, which hung limply between them. Progress was slow, but she'd come out here many times and knew her way through the trees. They soon emerged from the forest into the streets of Amity Park, lit only by the moon and stars overhead and the soft yellow glow of the street lamps that guided them away from Sam's house.

They stayed under the lamplights as much as they could, keeping away from the shadows that gathered close to the houses. Their arms were wrapped around each other now, protecting each other from both the cold of the night and the fear that kept pace with them. This wasn't like any ghost they'd seen before. It wasn't some malevolent force out to take over the world. It wasn't some psychotic force out to fulfill some dying wish. It seemed to have only one purpose. Killing Danny.

Sam didn't let her fear show much. Danny was clearly feeling enough of it for them both, though he did his best to hide it. She could still feel his shivering unrelated to the cold. He needed her to help him be strong through this, and she desperately wanted to help him any way she could. In the back of her mind she imagined she was the only one who could help him, though she knew she was nothing special.

Actually, it was more likely the girl whose house they approached would be able to help Danny. With her 'weapons' and 'experience' and 'martial arts training'.

"Isn't this-?" Danny began.

"Unfortunately." Sam grumbled and pulled Danny around to the side of the house. It wasn't as large as Sam's, but Valerie Gray was still one of the richest girls in Amity Park thanks to her father's career as a scientist for Axion Labs, one of the largest technology companies in the world. Sam was sure she'd help if they explained that a ghost was after them. Valerie hated ghosts more than anything in the world and always went out of her way to thwart them. Sam would have admired her passion if she weren't always trying to murder her best friend.

Sam leaned Danny against a nearby tree, plucked a rock from the ground, and heaved it up into a second story window. It tinged off of the window and fell back to the ground. When there was no response, Sam tried again. Then a third time when that failed to yield results, growling and heaving the rock as hard as she could.

This time after the impact the window slid open and a familiar face peered out of the window at them. "What the heck are you doing!?" Valerie blinked in surprise when she saw Sam. "Please tell me you're not here to confess your love for me in the moonlight."

"As if. We need your help Valerie. Or more specifically-" Sam pulled Danny away from the tree trunk and moved him into view. "Danny needs your help."

"Danny?" Valerie's eyes went wide when she saw Danny looking so weak and pale in the moonlight. They had shared a fling a few weeks back that had ended on a sour note. Though they were still civil towards one another, the flames they shared had died a long time ago. Despite herself, Sam often smiled about that.

"Okay, you can come up. I'll go unlock the front door. But keep quiet!"

Soon Valerie unlocked the front door and they moved up through the dark house to Valerie's room. Only when the door was locked did Valerie turn on the overhead light, turning to look back at them just as Danny settled back onto the bed, lifting his wounded leg carefully onto the sheet.

"Oh my God! Danny, what happened!?" Valerie exclaimed in surprise.

"A ghost attacked him." Sam replied. There was no need to go into why. She knew Valerie's anti-ghost bias would supply all the reason she needed. "We barely got away from it."

"That... that's horrible! I knew those ghosts were good for nothing!" Valerie snarled as her fists clenched with rage. When she realized how she looked in front of Sam and Danny she composed herself as best she could, pulling the front of her blue bathrobe tighter around herself. "Ghosts annoy me. They're unnatural freaks of ectoplasm who should all be eradicated."

Sam's eye twitched as she prepared to knock her into the next room, but Danny was thankfully more levelheaded. "Yeah, you never know what those ghosts might do next. Which is why we need a place to hide out for the night. We don't think anyone will look for us here."

"You've definitely got a point there." Valerie replied reasonably. "The last place anyone would expect to find you is my house." Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she glanced at Sam. Sam wanted to slap her, but refrained for Danny's sake. "And you don't need to worry about the ghost finding you. I have a feeling if he does come he'll find a lot more than he was looking for."

It was meant to be a secretive aside, but Sam and Danny already knew Valerie's dark secret. She was a ghost hunter, outfitted with high tech ghost weaponry supplied by the techno-ghost Technus. Sam realized suddenly that if Danny couldn't fight this Reaper, there was no way Valerie could. Though Sam would like to see her try.

"What are you two staring at?" Valerie demanded.

"Nothing!" Danny exclaimed.

"Completely mysterious and totally not understood." Sam added with a nervous grin. "Now, it's late, and we're all a bit tired. We should try to get some sleep before morning."

Valerie still looked suspicious, but let it slide. "Yeah, you've got another point. Only question is who gets the bed...?"

An hour later Sam lay on the floor in a sleeping bag Valerie found in her library-sized closet. Danny was sleeping beside her, though to keep his leg from hurting him too much he slept without a sleeping bag. Valerie had also found some bandages in her kitchen they used to properly cover up the wound, after they'd doused it in disinfectant just to be sure there were no surprises down the road.

"Danny?" Sam asked softly. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake. Can't get comfortable." Danny opened his eyes and sat up on his elbows for a moment, looking over to make sure Valerie was asleep before lying back and continuing. "And I guess I've been thinking. That ghost said my time was up a long time ago. Did I really die during the accident? Is that why I have these powers?"

"No way." Sam said firmly. Danny looked over at her, the silver moonlight from the window reflecting majestically off of his bright blue eyes. "You have those powers for a reason, but I don't think it's because you're dead. I think it's because... because you can do something with them. Because you deserve them." She didn't think before she spoke, but now that she heard herself she realized what it was sounding like. "Not that I believe in that destiny crap... but sometimes things do happen to certain people for a certain reason."

"I wasn't anything special." Danny spoke softly. "I'm still not anything special. I'm a ghost? Good for me. There are millions of those in the Ghost Zone. I'm just one of millions." He took a deep breath. "Maybe-"

"Don't even think about finishing that train of thought." Sam glared. "I know you'd probably love to ride the Self-Pity Train to Easy-Way-Out Station, but that's not an option. I won't let it be." Danny's eyes turned to her, looking unusually blank and bleak. She was used to seeing that expression in a mirror, but it seemed out of place on his face. She didn't like it. She wanted to get rid of it.

She sat up and leaned toward him to grip both of his shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes as she spoke in a firm, serious tone. "I know this ghost is strong. I know it hurt you. And I know it must be confusing. But don't you give up on yourself Danny. Because I'll never give up on you." Her own mind was reeling even as she said it. But she succeeded in putting a new look in his eyes. He looked more confused now.

Sam lied back down and turned her face away from him sharply. "Your ghost powers ARE unique... because you use them to help people. And that makes you completely different from the rest of those malicious spirits. You are one in a million Danny, and you're worth fighting for. Whether you 'belong' here or not." She closed her eyes, trying to act like she'd fallen asleep. She doubted Danny believed it, but he took the hint and she heard a soft rustle as he turned away from her as well.

She opened her eyes again and looked up at Valerie's bed. She swore she saw a slight shift on the mattress, but when she leaned up to look the girl was completely limp, her breath slow and steady. Sam let her head fall back onto her pillow, hoping it was just her imagination. She had no idea what Valerie would do if she realized Danny was the ghost-boy who 'ruined her life'.

Sam took a deep breath and tried to really settle down to sleep. Worrying about anything more would just drain away energy she might need in the morning. So she forced herself to remain still and finally fell into a fitful sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	3. When the Morning Comes

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 03: When the Morning Comes

The sound of a blaring alarm clock roused Danny from a sleep that was fitful at best. His leg was throbbing all night and the floor was hard on his back. He was thankful when the alarm was clicked off by an arm reaching out from under the covers on the bed. Valerie lifted her head under the covers and looked around the room with dark circles under her eyes. Danny glanced down at Sam, who was still asleep, then back up at Valerie.

"Have a rough night?" Danny asked in a soft tone so he wouldn't wake Sam up.

Valerie looked up at him in surprise for a moment, then her expression grew thoughtful. "Had a lot on my mind." She sat up, letting the covers fall off of her. Her torso and face were outlined by the rising sun outside her bedroom window, which cast a golden silhouette around her as she looked down at him. "Doesn't look like that ghost of yours decided to come by last night."

"Good thing." Danny replied. "Sleeping with two girls has been a dream of mine for a long time."

Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

"Oh yeah. Right behind being a superhero or something." Danny smiled humorously. Valerie smiled back out of the corner of her mouth and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was six in the morning on a Friday. They had to be in school in a few more hours.

"I should go get my shower and eat breakfast so my dad doesn't get suspicious. You wait here and rest for a little while longer. Then you've got to get out of here. My dad would kill me if he knew I had you in here all night."

"Secret's safe with us." Danny told her. Valerie stood up in her black nightgown and pulled some clothes out of her closet before leaving the room and closing the door behind her. Danny watched her go, then turned his gaze to Sam, who was still sleeping like a rock. Definitely not a morning person.

Curiously Danny pulled himself back toward Valerie's nightstand, reaching up to turn on the radio build into her alarm clock. A newscaster spoke up in a moment.

"And Vlad 'Millionaire' Masters adds to his collection today with the purchase of the Atari Jaguars. After the announcement was made he added 'The Packers are next, expletive deleted.'" The female voice told Danny through the radio. "And an update on today's leading story, the disappearance of two local high school students continues to send shockwaves through the small city of Amity Park. Daniel Fenton and Samantha Manson are still nowhere to be found, and few clues have been left at either of their homes besides a swath of destruction unmatched anywhere else in the city. The chief of police had this to say."

"There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to the crimes." The police chief's voice came over the radio. "The Fenton home had a smashed computer and a cut up door, but the Manson home was nearly demolished. It's a wonder it stayed upright as long as it did, with as much structural damage as was done to it. Factor in the trail of blood found at the crime scene, and things look worse all the time. As of this moment the crime is being treated as a potential homicide, perhaps a double."

Danny reached up and turned off the radio, sinking to a sitting position with his back to Valerie's dresser.

"Geeze, sounds like they're really worried about us." Sam said from her sleeping bag. "Do you think we should let them know we're okay?"

"No." Danny shook his head. "They would want us to come home, and having them close to me would put them in danger." He trailed off in deep thought. Something about the broadcast bothered him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. They'd mentioned the destroyed house, the trail of Danny's blood, the broken computer... what was it that seemed so important?

"I guess you're right." Sam climbed out of her sleeping bag and crawled over to his leg. "How is it feeling? Any better?"

"It's still sore, but it's a lot better than last night." Danny told her.

Sam placed her hands on his leg, under the strips of his jeans that they'd cut away the night before to give it more room. Danny watched his friend gently unwrap the bandages and look down at the nasty scar forming on his leg. He tried not to think about it, instead turning his attention to Sam's profile. She was focusing on his leg, her eyes tight and narrow as if she would heal it with some kind of x-ray vision.

They both looked up again when the bedroom door opened, fearing they were being discovered, but it was only Valerie returning in an expensive blue blouse and a pair of denim shorts.

"Alright guys, I've got to get going." Valerie told them. "My dad leaves for work at nine, so you can leave after that. For now keep the door locked and don't let anyone see you. Alright?"

"Right." Danny nodded. "And thank you, Valerie." Valerie looked down at him with a strangely detached smile.

"Hey. It's not like we're enemies, right?" Valerie replied. Danny and Sam both stared at her until Valerie turned back toward the door. "And hey, if you need anything else just let me know. You have my number." She waved one more time and pulled the door open, making sure to lock it before she slipped out and pulled it closed behind her.

"You don't think..." Sam began.

"I think there's nothing to do about it now either way." Danny looked down at Sam, who was looking more worried than ever. "Let's deal with one crisis at a time." Sam nodded and looked down at his leg again, grabbing the roll of bandages beside the bed to apply a fresh wrap. "How does it look?"

"As long as you can feel it, I don't think there's any permanent damage. But you should still stay off of it for a little while." Sam scoffed. "Like that'll be easy, given our current situation."

"Maybe there's something around here we can use as a pair of crutches." Danny suggested. Sam searched the room thoroughly, until she located a pair of real crutches lodged inside the closet behind a pile of coats. Despite questions about why Valerie would have them, it was a convenient find. And while Danny didn't want to steal them, he was sure Valerie would understand when she found out.

Danny stood up on his one leg with Sam's help, leaning heavily against the crutches. He wasn't used to this, but they would have to do.

"It's almost nine." Sam said. "We should decide where to go."

"Something is still bugging me about this whole thing. It stinks and I'm not sure why. Something to do with the news broadcast." Danny racked his mind, trying to recall everything he'd heard. The blood, the computers, the damage to the house, the missing high school students.

"You mean besides the fact that this ghost doesn't go intangible?" Sam asked. Danny blinked and looked at her in surprise. "You didn't notice? He didn't phase through the walls after us, he cut through them. Why would a ghost need to do that? And not to mention that he just stopped chasing me for no reason."

"You think he's not a ghost?" Danny asked. "Even if he doesn't go intangible, I don't think anything in this world could cut through solid walls, floors, and six inch thick steel like he did."

"Good point." Sam sighed. "Well, this is our chance to run, I guess we should get out of here. Maybe get something to eat; I missed dinner I was so busy playing that game. And then the whole 'running for our lives' thing happened."

"Yeah, you're right. We'll think better on full stomachs." Danny turned to limp out of the room with the crutches, though he head to lean heavily on Sam to make it down the stairs to the first floor. They emerged into the soft morning sunlight a few minutes later and made their slow way down the sidewalk. Danny had to struggle to keep up with Sam's normal walking speed, so she slowed down a bit to make it easier on him.

"You know, you can still walk away." Danny told her between grunts. "If you regret trying to face this thing with me, you can go home and pretend you don't know me."

"Regret?" Sam smirked. "I don't regret anything. Except missing our showers this morning, because... ewe." She winced. She wasn't a prude about cleanliness, but running full speed for over an hour with Danny on her back through the open forest left her smelling horrible. They both looked pretty dirty too, now that Danny was looking.

"Have they started installing showers in 7/11's yet?" Danny joked.

"It's probably stuck in legislation." Sam smirked back.

They made their way down the sidewalk, trying to ignore the startled and inquisitive looks of the people around them. They didn't take their normal routes, nor did they dare go to Nasty Burger for fear of being recognized. The second they were spotted their parents and the police would be all over them, and they needed to be free to move. Their families couldn't stop the Reaper; they needed to find a way to do it before they were found.

Instead they went a ways across town and entered a small Nice Burger, whose floors and walls were shiny clean and whose food was pretty and uniform. Even all of the patrons were spotless, since the sauces in the burgers didn't leak like Nasty Burger's did.

"Disgusting." Danny heard his friend remark under her breath. Danny remained quiet as they ordered some breakfast sandwiches and took a booth near the front of the restaurant to wait. Danny sighed in relief and propped the crutches against the wall beside him, glad to be free of them for a while.

"This place gives me the creeps. It feels like eating hospital food." Sam commented, glaring at some of the neatly combed patrons with their Old Navy sweaters and slacks.

"I don't care. I'm happy to be alive." He added under his breath, "more or less," but Sam didn't seem to hear him. "Anyway, we need to focus on what's important right now. How do you stop something whose entire purpose is to hunt ghosts?"

"We always did pretty well against Skulker." Sam said.

"He never absorbed my ecto-blasts, and he doesn't feel like trying to fight a freezer in the middle of the North Pole." Danny shook his head. "Man, I know there was something about that broadcast... it's right on the tip of my brain." He pounded his palm into the front of his head angrily. "Think, think, think..."

Sam shook her head with a slight smile on her face. "Don't beat yourself up over it, Pooh. It'll come in time."

They lapsed into silence when their Nice Biscuits arrived in the shape of perfect circles with hash browns and grits neatly set off to one side so that they never touched. Sam stuck out her tongue in disgust, but was too hungry to refuse the food. Instead she smeared the grits over the other items on her plate, and once it looked appropriately messy she grabbed her fork and began eating.

"Maybe we can adapt some of our old strategies for this new guy?" Sam suggested after they ate in silence for a little while. "We developed some pretty slick techniques through the last year. And we've managed to take down ghosts like Ember and Vlad Plasmeus several times. And you even defeated the king of all ghosts. Some cold freak in a bed sheet can't be too tough, can he? Someone must have beaten him before."

Danny only heart part of what she said, since something finally clicked in his mind. "Vlad Plasmeus! That's it!" His eyes went wide and he looked up. Sam gestured for him to keep his voice down, since several other patrons were looking in their direction at his outburst. He leaned closer to her to whisper. "Vlad. That's what's been bothering me. This Reaper came after me because I'm part ghost. Vlad has been part ghost for twenty years and he's still around."

Sam blinked. "That means he must have encountered the Reaper at some point. Do you think he actually found a way to beat it?"

"He must have. Which means he's the only person who can help me." Danny moved to climb out of the booth, but Sam grabbed his wrist with a concerned expression on her face.

"Hold on. Vlad Plasmeus is insane, for all we know he's the one who sent this thing after you in the first place. He could be waiting for us to run to him for help."

"I'm all for trying your idea first." Danny replied. Sam bit her bottom lip for a moment, since she didn't really have one. "All we need is the money for some plane tickets."

"Money? Remember who you're talking to." Sam reached into a concealed pocket in her skirt and pulled out a pitch-black credit card. "For emergencies."

"Won't they be able to track it? They'll know we're going to Wisconsin." Danny warned her.

"Let them. We'll get there before they do, and it's a big place to get lost in." Sam stood up, ignoring the partially eaten biscuits and hash browns on her plate. "Besides, at least it'll let them know we're alive."

Danny pursed his lips into a tight line and nodded in agreement. That was definitely a bonus. He didn't want his family to suffer any more than they had to. And letting them know they were alive without giving away their exact location would be ideal.

Danny grabbed his crutches and, with Sam's help, stood up to leave the small restaurant. By now many of the patrons had turned to watch them, but they were easily ignored and they emerged onto the streets in a few moments.

"Come on. We have a plane to catch." Sam turned to walk down the street, moving slow so Danny could hobble beside her without struggling too much. They were off to Wisconsin to a man who could save them both... or make things a thousand times worse.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	4. Problem Girl

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 04: Problem Girl

Jasmine Fenton didn't know what to think anymore. She'd gone to bed early the night before to rest up for the big test that was coming at school. She never imagined she would wake up to find the Fenton Portal ripped open, Danny's computer destroyed, and both Danny and Sam missing. What worried her most was the blood trail at Sam's house. She knew they had to be together, that would be their first instinct whether they knew it or not. And one of them was hurt. So why didn't they come home or go to a doctor? What had emerged from the Fenton Portal that could make them run off? If they hadn't simply been caught...

Something that could demolish a mansion without anyone noticing, she thought to herself. Sam's house had been thankfully empty when the structural damage on the inside made it collapse in on itself early in the morning. Funny thing was, nobody reported any damage to the outside. It was strictly internal until the collapse happened. It wasn't natural, and that meant ghostly activity. That could explain why they didn't go to the authorities... but why not come to Jazz? Or Tucker, who was standing beside her looking as confused and bewildered as she felt?

"I just don't get it." Tucker shook his head. He'd been the first one to call the authorities from Sam's house when he'd tried to get up to Sam's room and found half the building carved up on the inside. "They wouldn't just leave me out of this, I've always been part of the group."

"Maybe they didn't have a choice." Jazz shook her head as well. They were standing outside of Sam's mansion, watching the construction crews trying to clear away debris just in case someone was trapped inside. Jazz didn't think so. Sam was more resourceful than that, and her parents and grandmother had been out enjoying a fancy dinner.

"This is so unfair. They're probably living it up right now and going on some kind of grand adventure and I'm stuck here with you." Tucker looked up at Jazz with an apologetic smile. "No... uh... no offense."

"None taken." Jazz waved him off with one hand. "Standing here is getting us nowhere, and school starts in half an hour. We need to get going or we'll be late."

"School? Are you crazy, woman!?" Tucker whirled on her. Jazz glared at him acidly out of the corner of her eye. "We should try looking for them." Tucker said more softly.

"I know you're used to playing hooky, but I'm not going to skip school unless we have something we can DO instead of worrying our heads off uselessly." Jazz turned to walk back to the small car her parents had passed down to her since they preferred to use the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. Jazz didn't complain, she hated driving that ten thousand pound death trap on wheels.

Tucker didn't argue anymore, instead climbing into her car so she could drive them both toward Casper High School. "Trust me, I'm worried about them too. But Danny's strong. We have to trust him to keep them safe until they can find a way back to us. Like he always does." Jazz said reassuringly. Tucker relaxed a bit more, but still stared out the window, refusing to meet her gaze.

The school day was largely a blur for Jazz. Though she did notice that in the hallways Valerie Grey kept giving her long stares when she thought her back was turned. It was starting to get a bit creepy. Jazz knew plenty about her from looking through Danny's logs on his computer. And Danny had also told her a lot about her sick obsession with ghosts and ghost hunting. Could Valerie be connected to Danny's disappearance?

The school day ended and Jazz was sure she'd failed her test. It was hard to focus under the current circumstances. Her teachers had looked astonished that she'd bothered to come when news of her brother's strange disappearance had spread. But she wanted her education. She needed it. And unless she knew Danny's life was in danger, she wasn't going to give it up.

She left the building at the end of the school day amid a larger crowd of students. They all gave her ample space to move, shouldering each other out of the way to avoid her. Only one person touched her, a person who gripped her shoulder and spoke with an uncertain waver in her voice.

"Jazz? You think I can talk to you alone for a minute?" Jazz turned to see Valerie clutching her shoulder with an uncertain but determined expression on her face. Wary but willing to give the girl a chance, Jazz followed Valerie around to the side of the building. When they were alone Valerie stopped with her back to Jazz, breathing deeply and holding her hands in front of her.

"Is there something wrong?" Jazz hid her suspicion under concern. As a psychologist, she was pretty good at reading people. And Valerie was definitely holding something big inside. Something she wanted to get out.

"You're Danny's brother." Valerie turned back to her, looking cautious. "So I imagine you two would be pretty close."

"Yeah, I'd say we've gotten pretty close." Jazz replied smoothly.

"So you share things. Tell each other secrets." Valerie prodded. She tried to pass it off as a question of curiosity, but the implication of her tone was not hidden from Jazz. She definitely knew something. "Like any brother and sister, right?"

"We don't hide anything from each other." Jazz was careful to keep her voice smooth and her face a cold mask.

Valerie hesitated, trying to look cool now, except for the fingers of her right hand pulling at the bottom of her blue blouse.

She looked like she was going to explode, but suddenly she tried to brush past Jazz toward the parking lot. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to waste your time." She started back toward the parking lot, but Jazz grabbed her wrist, gripping it tightly to hold her back. Valerie looked back in surprise. "You got a problem now?"

"If you've seen my brother, you'd better tell me where he is." Jazz insisted. Valerie blinked in surprise before a slight smile spread across her lips.

"Guess they're right. Nothing gets past you." Valerie commented. "What're you gonna do? Force me to talk?"

"No. Of course not." Jazz softened her voice and released her wrist. "I'm not a violent person, I'm a concerned sister." Valerie looked down. "You have seen him. Where is he now? Where is he going?"

"I don't know where he is now." Valerie replied. "Danny and Sam came to my place last night. Said a ghost attacked them and they needed a place to crash. They're probably gone from my house by now, and I don't know where they were going." Valerie said. Jazz could hear that she was telling the truth... but not the whole truth. Something in her eyes looked angry and confused. Given what Jazz knew about the girl, she had several suspicions about what happened last night. But only one seemed likely.

She grabbed Valerie's hand suddenly. "Come with me." She yanked Valerie toward the parking lot, surprising the younger girl into compliance. Tucker was already waiting by her car when they approached.

He looked shocked when he saw them. "Jazz, what-"

"Get in." Jazz ordered him. Tucker nodded and slipped into the backseat of the car while Jazz hustled Valerie into the passenger's seat and climbed in, starting the engine and pulling away from the school.

"Where are we going?" Valerie asked suspiciously.

"Were either of them hurt?" Jazz asked simply to change the subject.

"What? Well... yeah. Danny's leg was cut." Valerie replied, again shocked into compliance. Then she grew angry. "Ragh! Stop confusing me into changing the subject! I'm not telling you anything else until you tell me where we're going!"

"I know what you're thinking, Valerie." Jazz replied. "And I'm going to tell you why you're wrong." Valerie stared at her and went silent.

"What the heck am I missing?" Tucker demanded from the back seat.

"Shut up, dweeb." Valerie answered swiftly. With a grumble Tucker leaned back until they reached the wreckage of Sam's mansion, the wreckage of which was still being cleared away. Jazz climbed out of the car and approached the yellow tape with her hands in her pockets, followed shortly by Valerie and Tucker.

"I heard about this, this morning." Valerie said. "I'm guessing a ghost attacked Sam here last night and demolished the building when it cut Danny's leg. How is that supposed to prove me wrong, huh?"

"Alone, it's not really." Jazz shook her head without looking at her. "I just wanted to show you what the world would be like if you were right." Tucker and Valerie both stared at her with confused expressions, but she didn't pay them any mind. "There are an infinite number of ghosts Valerie. One for every man, woman, and child whose ever lived. Do you think, if they were all evil, that this world would stand a chance?"

Valerie didn't respond, but Tucker looked back and forth between them until at last a light flashed inside his head. "Oooh, she knows Danny's a ghost... um... right?"

"Tucker!" Jazz hissed harshly, but Valerie was already backing away from them with a victorious grin on her face. Jazz knew this would happen. As a suspicion it was something to ponder, but when confirmed it became something to act upon.

"Aha! What I heard last night was true! You just confirmed it! Danny Fenton IS the ghost boy! And you're just trying to protect him!" Valerie pointed at Jazz accusingly.

"Valerie, it's not about protecting anyone. It's about the truth." Jazz said.

"I can't believe I ever liked him! And I can't believe you've been protecting him all this time!" She clenched her fists, a strange electrical power coursing through her arm as the arm of a red mechanical suit appeared. The barrel of a weapon rose from the back of her wrist, beginning to charge with power as it centered on Jazz's forehead.

"Valerie, hold on!" Jazz raised her hands, her calm demeanor broken by sudden panic. "Think about what you're doing here!"

"Yeah, you've done some pretty ho-" Tucker started to chime in, but Jazz slapped a hand over his mouth to shut him up before he could aggravate the situation any further.

"I'm breaking up this ghost conspiracy. I bet you're one of them, aren't you?" Valerie's weapon pulsed brighter, as if about to discharge.

"No, I'm not!" Jazz replied quickly. With a gulp she managed to regain some composure. Getting worked up wouldn't help diffuse a volatile situation. "And Danny's not one of 'them' either. He's a living boy who suffered through a horrible accident."

"Lies!" Valerie shouted.

"It's the truth. If you want the proof, why don't you find him and talk to him?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah, you bet I will." Valerie took a small device out of her back pocket, smirking. On it a black screen with a map of the city had a small blip moving across it. "I planted this on him while he was sleeping. Just in case I could confirm what I thought I heard."

"A tracking device?" Jazz's eyes went wide. "Valerie, please listen to me. We need to use that to help Danny. Whatever did this-" her hand gestured slowly toward the wreckage behind her "-is probably after him and Sam. That's the only reason he would disappear like this without telling anyone."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about Danny." Valerie stepped away from them, lowering her arm to her side as the suit appeared fully around her body, wrapping her from head to toe in powerful ghost technology like no human could ever hope to create. A gift from Technus that she'd gotten after her fling with Danny. "When I get through with him, you'll never have to worry about him again." She leapt into the air and a massive hover board sprang from the soles of her feet, welding together as if by magic before lifting her high into the air.

"VALERIE! WAIT!" Jazz tried to shout after her, but she was gone too fast. "Darnit! Come on!" Jazz ran toward her car, yanking Tucker along behind him.

"What are we doing!?" Tucker asked frantically.

"We've got to try to follow her. She said she planted a tracking device on Danny, a device that has to be emitting a radio signal to track. If we can find its frequency we can follow it too."

"That could take forever! And do you even know how?" Tucker asked once they were inside the car.

"You don't live with my parents without learning a few things about technology." Jazz flung the car into gear and took off down the street toward the Fenton Works building at double the speed limit. Valerie was moving pretty fast, unless Danny was already out of the city they didn't have a lot of time to get to him before she did. Danny was strong, but now that she had a way to find him, she wasn't about to let him keep fighting alone when he didn't have to.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	5. Unwell

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 05: Unwell

Danny leaned back on the airline seat, glad to be off of his crutches again as the plane moved down the runway at a slow, but steadily increasing pace. He looked idly out the window right beside his seat, seeing Sam's reflection in the glass while she played with the remote on the armrest, making her seat do tricks to alleviate the dreadful boredom of waiting an hour for the flight to take off.

"Finally." Sam said as the wheels left the ground and the plane stopped shaking so much. "Wisconsin here we come." She unbuckled her seat belt and stretched out once the lights indicated that it was safe to do so. Danny undid his own seat belt, but didn't move much. The pain in his leg had faded to a dull throb, but Sam assured him it still needed more time to heal.

"I just hope the Reaper doesn't find us up here." Danny looked around nervously. "I'm putting everyone in danger by being on this plane..."

"Relax, Danny. We've been out and about all day without seeing any trace of that guy. I doubt he'll find us now. If anything we're getting further away from him." Sam said reassuringly. When the stewardess approached she turned to look up at her. "Oh, yeah, two drinks, please. Thank you." Sam smiled. The woman walked off to get their drinks and she leaned back in her seat again.

"I gotta say, this isn't so bad. I've never flown first class before." Danny commented, looking around the large, spacious, and well-furnished cabin.

"Eh, I've seen better." Sam shrugged. "I actually booked the first flight to Wisconsin I could find. Hopefully the fastest too. Not that you couldn't get us there faster, but having you fly us there is too risky until we know more about what we're dealing with."

"Agreed." Danny nodded and turned to watch as the plane moved above the voluminous white clouds outside the window. In her reflection he could see Sam tapping her armrest, occasionally glancing over at him. Danny said nothing about it. He didn't want to just sit here. It made him think. And the less he thought the better, as far as he was concerned. So he turned to Sam to divert his attention.

They spent the next hour and a half chatting amiably about things unrelated to the situation. The latest CD releases, movies they hoped to see soon, upcoming video game releases. Anything to take focus away from the topic that was on both of their minds.

"You know, if you want to see Spider-Man 3 when it comes out, I could take you. My treat." Danny suggested with a smile.

"What, like a date or something?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Nah... payback." Danny replied. "For saving my life." His smile never left his face as he stared into Sam's shining violet eyes. The girl tried to hide a blush that swept across her cheeks while she gave him a cheesy grin.

"Well, consider it part of MY payback. Now I just have about six thousand more rescues to go and we'll be even." Sam said. She looked down as Danny's hand moved on top of hers on the armrest.

"Saving you has been for myself too." He told her earnestly. Her blush only deepened until finally she looked away from him into the isle seat and pulled her hand out from under his.

"God, you're starting to get so mushy on me Danny..." She said hotly.

"Sorry." Danny blushed and looked up at the lights above his seat.

It took several minutes for Sam's blush to fade enough for her to sit up again, though she kept smiling as she looked around for anything to examine, no matter how uninteresting. She glanced over at Danny finally, and gasped when she saw something in the window behind him. It looked like a red-suited figure standing on a large metal hover board, flying beside the plane with a massive energy weapon perched on her shoulder.

"Valerie!" Sam exclaimed in surprise. Danny looked at her, then whirled in a panic to see the girl flying beside them.

"Hey ghost boy! Come out and play!" Valerie shouted as she raised her energy cannon toward the window.

"She wouldn't..." Sam stared in horror.

"She would! Move!" Danny threw himself out of his seat, ignoring the throbbing pain in his leg. Tackling Sam and taking her with them, he hit the ground and clutched at their seat leg just before the massive ecto blast ripped through the side of the jetliner. The vicious wind ripped through the entire plane as the cabin began to depressurize. Things flew out the window at high speeds, whipping through the air amid the screams of the people clutching at their seats to avoid being sucked out along with them.

"Danny!" Sam screamed through the wind as she wrapped both arms around the legs of her seat. Her boots were weaving through the air just outside the plane beside his shoes. Danny held her torso tightly in his arms as he reached around her torso to clutch at the seat leg. He glanced over his shoulder to see Valerie still pacing the plane outside of the gaping hole, scanning the interior.

Danny grunted and pulled himself up so that his chest was pressed up against Sam's back, talking into her ear. "Sam, hang on. Whatever you do, hang on."

"Danny, where are you going? Danny, don't!" Sam shouted over her shoulder, but she dared not let go of the seat. Danny let go of the seat and released her torso to let himself slip straight out into the open air. "DAAANNNYYYYYYY!" Sam's scream followed him out as he plummeted down through the sky amid a pile of lost belongings. Above him he saw Valerie's visor whip toward him just before she turned to fly through the sky toward him.

Danny thrust his limbs out, the ectoplasm bursting through his body to the surface as he stopped his descent, clutching his fists in his ghost mode. "Have you completely lost it!?" Danny screamed as Valerie approached. "Those are innocent people!"

"What do you know about innocence, ghost boy!?" Valerie howled back. "What do you know about humanity!? What do you know about love!? You USE people for your own twisted, sick sense of humor!" Valerie raised the massive cannon on her shoulder.

"What!?" Danny exclaimed, but he didn't have time to wait for an answer. He jerked out of the way as Valerie opened fire, a string of blasts that forced him to keep moving to avoid them, weaving through the air like an acrobat. The quick motion quickly aggravated the wound on his calf, but he didn't let it slow him down.

Finally he saw an opening and took it, whirling through two more blasts and firing one of his own with his palm open. This forced Valerie to dodge, which gave Danny a few moments to catch his breath. "I never used anyone, Valerie! I liked you!"

"You KNEW about me!" Valerie screamed. "I know you did! You were just messing with me! You're like all the other ghosts! Sick and twisted!" The cannon folded into the back of her suit and she reached into the front, flinging several almost invisible needles straight at him. Only the glint of the sun off of their surface gave away where they were. Danny whirled through them carefully, though one punched through the fabric of his suit over his stomach, barely missing his flesh. He could see that the plane was fading from sight. If he lost sight of it, he wouldn't be able to catch anyone who fell. Especially Sam...

"You're the one who put an entire plane of innocent people in danger and you call ME twisted!?" Danny whirled suddenly and flew straight for her chest, bringing his fist back. Valerie raised her arms to brace for impact, but Danny phased at the last second, flying straight through her body and charging after the plane with his ghostly tail forming behind him. The plane was losing altitude and luggage, but it still looked stable for the moment.

Valerie caught up to him in a few moments, pacing him easily with the thrust from her hover board. "You're not getting away from me now, Danny Fenton! There's no hiding from me anymore!" She raised her hands out to her sides as several diamond-shaped satellites floated up from the back of her suit to hover above her head.

"You've lost it, Valerie!" Danny screamed. "Get some counseling! I hear my sister charges reasonable rates!"

"Shut up!" Valerie clenched her fists, then brought both of her arms in front of her. The satellites unleashed a volley of ecto-blasts that exploded like lightning, arching through the air straight toward Danny. Danny whirled through the air, desperately dodging between them as they came within inches of his body. In desperation, he brought his hands up in front of him, blocking two of the blasts with a quickly formed ecto-shield. The blasts were so strong they knocked Danny back through the air even with the shield. With a grunt Danny righted his course through the air, floating up above Valerie to keep her disoriented. He had been catching up to the plane, but now it was fading into the distance again.

Danny carefully whirled through several more blasts, then made a run for it, racing through Valerie's barrage of ecto-fire as fast as he could, his ghostly tail whipping through the air behind him as he flew.

The ecto blasts stopped as Valerie had to race to keep up with him. He was fast approaching the plane, moving up toward the open hole in the side, hoping that he would see Sam still there clutching the seat. Moving level with the hole he caught sight of her clutching the leg of the seat with her face buried in her arms as she hung on for dear life. Danny smiled slightly in relief just before something slammed into his back.

Danny howled in pain and surprise as he was carried away from the plane again, an arm closing expertly around his neck to cut off his windpipe. "Valerie... stop... it..." Danny gasped as he clutched at her arm.

"You will not get away with all you've done, Danny Phantom." Valerie's voice was dark and murderous as she spoke, her grip tightening. "You will not get away with all of your crimes against humanity."

Danny opened his eyes and looked up, just in time to see Sam's limp form slide out of the plane. Her body fell through the sky as limp as a noodle, and when she spun in his direction he could see that her eyes were closed. She must have passed out from lack of oxygen, being so close to the wind tunnel. Danny's heart raced and his eyes went wide. He struggled against Valerie with renewed vigor, but she refused to let go.

"Let... go..." Danny snarled in rage, his eyes pulsing with shining blue energy. "LET GO!" Both hands opened wide as his palms jerked down toward, a powerful blue ecto-blast slamming into the front of her board. A thick sheet of ice spread out from the point of impact, creeping across the board. The moisture from the ice made sparks fly into the air around them as it seeped into the sensitive electronics within. When it finally covered the engines in the back, the entire board lost power, but it didn't stop there. The ice continued to wind its way up Valerie's body.

"Wh... what...is this...?" Valerie asked fearfully through chattering teeth, now suddenly clinging to his neck for dear life rather than trying to choke him as the board hung uselessly from her legs. "Stop it!"

"Get off of me!" Danny's ecto-energy exploded outward, knocking Valerie away from him through the air. Valerie was flung back through the air, her clutching arms stretched out toward him as her eyes went wide in shock and horror. He could only see this for a single moment before time seemed to blast back into its normal flow, and Valerie plummeted through the sky away from him.

Danny ignored her scream and whirled to see any sign of Sam, searching the skies toward the ground so far below him, but he couldn't see her from this distance. "SAM!" He flew at top speed toward the Earth, his heart pounding and his pulse racing. If anything had happened to her...

He didn't see her anywhere. He had almost reached the ground before he stopped, looking through the forest before him frantically. "Sam... Sam, no..." His voice shuddered. He knew he hadn't passed her in the air. That meant... "No... Sam..." He clenched his fists as tears began to flow down his cheeks. How could he let this happen? She had come to save his life... she'd been counting him to protect her as she'd protected him. He'd failed her...

He whirled in a panic when the roar of an engine approached from behind. He was stunned to see the Specter Speeder hovering up behind him. Through the cockpit window he could see Jazz at the controls, with Tucker holding Sam's unconscious form in the back compartment.

"Danny, get in here." His sister's voice was harsh and commanding through the Specter Speeder's external comm. system. Danny wiped his eyes and floated toward the vehicle, phasing through the front before landing on the floor inside. The ectoplasm faded back into his body and his human form once again rose to the surface. His winced as his injured leg hit the floor plating, but he didn't reach for help this time, instead trying to ignore it.

"Is she okay?" Danny asked worriedly, staring into the back at Sam lying unconscious on the metal floor.

"She's fine." Jazz wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders as she moved to stand beside him, looking at Sam in the back. "She just needs oxygen, which there's plenty of in here."

"Thank God." Danny closed his eyes and shuddered. "I thought she..."

"She's okay." Jazz repeated in a firm voice that refused to be denied. Danny nodded and wiped his eyes on the back of one hand, taking a deep breath to steady himself. "Go ahead, go be with her. I'll take us home."

"No!" Danny whirled on her. "We can't go back. We have to get to Wisconsin to see Vlad Masters."

"Vlad? But he's a criminal, Danny." Jazz reminded him.

"Just trust me!" Danny insisted. "I wouldn't go to him if I had another choice. But I'm out of options and just- just-" Danny stammered.

"Okay, Danny." Jazz held up her hands defensively. "I'll take us to Wisconsin. You go rest." Jazz told him. Danny relaxed slightly and nodded, turning to limp painfully into the back of the Specter Speeder. On the floor Tucker was bent over Sam, fanning her with a paper fan. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully, which helped put Danny's mind at ease.

Tucker looked up at him as he approached. Danny carefully fell to his butt on the floor beside Sam, leaning back against the wall, carefully keeping his bandaged leg straight out in front of him. He heaved a sigh of relief was he was off of it, looking across Sam's prone body at Tucker.

"Had a rough night?" Tucker asked with a hint of a smile.

Danny couldn't help but smile back. "We've had better." He gulped and shifted his position slightly, turning his gaze down to look at Sam lying on the floor.

Tucker looked down at Sam as well, then looked up at Danny staring at her. "I'll go check with Jazz." Tucker excused himself and stood to head up to the cockpit. Danny watched him go, grateful for their brother-like understanding. He turned back to Sam, leaning forward and putting a hand over her lips. He could feel her breath against his palm, the first evidence he felt that she really was alive.

"Sam..." Danny grunted and scooted up closer to her, dragging his wounded leg with him until he was leaning over her. "God, I thought I lost you back there." His hand moved down from her lips until his palm was cupping one of her cheeks lightly in his hand. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. It was as if she really would be taken from him if he dared to let her go now. Though he knew it was foolish.

He leaned down close to her, pressing his forehead against hers and closing his eyes. He was glad she couldn't see him right now, but he just wanted to be close to her, to somehow make up for not being there to catch her. And for being so stupid this whole time. He'd wanted to keep Jazz and Tucker out of it for their protection, but if it wasn't for them Sam wouldn't be here now. Just like if it wasn't for Sam, he wouldn't be here now.

He slowly opened his eyes and sat up, sliding his palm away from her cheek and looking down at her sadly. He'd wanted to be alone for this, to be a solitary mountain because he was the one with superpowers. Sam had known better though. She'd known he couldn't do it alone. He was just a person... he was only human. Without her, he would never have made it this far.

"Guess those cartoon specials are on to something..." Danny leaned back against the wall of the Specter Speeder again, suddenly feeling tired after the fight with Valerie and the trauma of believing Sam had left him. "Guess we really are stronger when we're all together, no matter what powers we have..." He yawned and felt his eyelids growing heavy as his head lulled to the side. He was barely conscious as he spoke one last time. "But then... you've always made me stronger... Sam..."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Relentless

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 06: Relentless

The forest was deathly quiet. Even the sound of birds chirping and insects buzzing seemed to have halted long after the helpless form had plunged into the trees. And now she lay on the forest floor, her limbs spread around her body, the pieces of the ecto-mechanical suit sparking with excess electricity more than an hour after impact. Most of the suit had been ripped off on her trip through the foliage high above, though some remained on her body to sparkle in the sun that drew nearer and nearer toward the Western horizon.

Valerie's eyes slowly opened, staring through the broken pieces of her visor into the leaves that swayed in a gentle breeze high above her head. Was she... alive? It didn't seem possible. Her jets never came back on. The ice had pulled her straight toward the ground. She could remember it all. The biting pain of her limbs twisting in the trees. The pieces of the suit ripping gouges from her flesh. The immense impact of her back crushing against the ground. She remembered it all. There was no way she could have survived that.

Slowly she climbed to her feet, shaking in fear and uncertainty. The pieces of the suit that remained intact on her body hung in place as if glued by some mystical force. She stumbled slowly forward, moving a hand up to her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She wasn't sure where she was now. She wasn't even sure what state she was in. She was so focused on getting to Danny she didn't keep track of her location.

A sudden chill descended on the forest around her, growing unbearably sharp until she was forced to hug herself for warmth. The grass around her stopped swaying, and the leaves above her stopped moving. It was as if the entire forest had stopped breathing.

"Valerie Grey." Valerie whirled around in surprise, looking back for the first time. She gasped in horror, taking a step back from the sight before her. A ghost floated in front of her, a thick cloak obscuring anything that lay underneath, except for the skeletal hands that clutched a scythe whose blade was longer than she was tall. Lying on the ground, twisted before it, was Valerie herself.

"Your time has come." The figure spoke in an otherworldly voice, as if sending the thoughts straight into her mind.

"N... no... no no no." Valerie's voice trembled as she stumbled back away from the figure. "It can't be... It CAN'T BE!" Valerie turned to run through the forest, weaving through the trees. She had to get away... if she got away then she could forget this ever happened. This couldn't have happened. It had to be a dream of some kind. A trick of Danny's. It had to be.

Blinded by tears she hadn't realized she was shedding, one of her feet slammed into the upraised root of a nearby tree. She flew through the air and hit the ground at full speed, grunting in pain and clutching her stomach from the impact. She panted and lay on the ground with her eyes scanning the area around her. She gulped when she saw the cloaked figure approaching through the trees.

"You do not need to fear." The spectral figure floated up toward her, the cold seeming to drift from its body like a cloud. Valerie shivered on the ground, but refused to give up. She dragged herself away from the cloaked figure with her hands, desperately trying to end this dream. This nightmare.

"Get away from me..." Valerie screamed through her sobs as she tried to scramble away from him. "It's not true! This isn't real! I'm not... I'm not..."

"You are." The figure told her. The tone in her voice sounded sympathetic, a gentle voice that sought to comfort rather than frighten. "But you need not mourn, child. You have simply become more than you ever could have been before."

Valerie slowly climbed to her knees, wiping the tears from her cheeks with one of her palms. "It's not fair. I still had so much to do..."

"Even if your life is over, you can still fight for your desires, Valerie." The figure approached her from behind. She felt one skeletal hand gently touch her shoulder. She shuddered as a wave of cold energy flowed through her body, igniting something she hadn't felt before. Something deep inside herself. "You can continue to fight against the one who did this to you."

"Danny..." Valerie lowered her hand from her cheek, her eyes narrowing as her fists clenched tightly in front of her. "He killed me. Without a second thought he killed me..."

"The ghost child has eluded his fate for far too long." The spectral figure agreed in a soft tone. "He is a spirit, no different from you or me. A ghost."

"I hate ghosts." Valerie grunted darkly. "I wish they were all destroyed. Sent back to where they belong."

"Such passion drives you, Valerie." The specter sounded appreciative as he touched both of her shoulders. The cold feeling flowed through her with renewed vigor, though now it felt almost comforting. "A passion to see the unruly part of nature destroyed."

"They deserve no better." Valerie spat venomously. "Especially him."

"Then I would like to see you attain your vengeance." The specter told her. Valerie looked over her shoulder into the deep, faceless hood that floated in the air behind her. It probably would be the last thing she ever did... but she would make Danny Fenton pay for all of his crimes. She swore it on her own grave.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	7. Almost Unreal

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 07: Almost Unreal

Danny was awakened from his deep sleep by a hand gently shaking his shoulder. He grumbled sleepily and opened one eye, but all thoughts of sleep left him when he saw Sam sitting up in front of him with a tired, but grateful expression on her face. When he looked at her she gave him a genuine, happy smile like she rarely gave to anyone else. He'd almost never seen its kind on her before.

"Sam..." Danny grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, clutching her close to him. "Sam, you're okay!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Sam patted his back awkwardly with one hand. Human contact wasn't something she had a lot of experience with. In a few more moments she mumbled into his ear. "Okay, getting mushy again."

"Sorry." Danny let her go with a broad smile. Her face was bright red as she straightened her shirt, though she didn't move too far away from him despite the spacious interior of the Specter Speeder's rarely used rear compartment. "I just thought I'd lost you. I tried to catch you, but Valerie stopped me and I couldn't get away. I tried but I just couldn't... I couldn't..."

"I know, Danny. It's okay." Sam told him with a smile. "Jazz explained what happened earlier. And I've already explained everything to them. They're going to help us." She slid across the metal floor to lean against the wall beside Danny. "Actually, we're getting close to Vlad's mansion already. And, in case you're worried about that, the news reports said the plane made a safe emergency landing. Everyone's okay."

Danny nodded in relief, leaning his head back against the wall and looking over at Sam. She looked back, and they just remained that was for the next thirty minutes, until they heard Jazz calling from the cockpit like an airline pilot.

"Attention passengers, we're approaching Vlad's mansion. Will everyone please prepare for a prompt landing? There are no seat belts so just hold onto something really really tight." Sam and Danny looked at each other for another moment, then scooted close to hold onto each other. Neither of them said anything, nor did they think there was anything strange about it as they felt the Specter Speeder move into a downward motion. It didn't take long before the ship landed and the engines shut down.

Sam and Danny finally separated and climbed to their feet. Danny leaned heavily against the wall, having lost his crutches on the plane, but Jazz and Tucker each took one of his arms over their shoulders to help him walk. They left through the rear entrance, straight up to the front of the green and gold mansion that was the home of Vlad Masters, one of Danny's deadliest enemies. And his only hope.

Danny gently pushed Jazz and Tucker away from him, but not too far. He'd learned his lesson about pushing them away. He needed them. But there were some things he did have to do alone. And confronting Vlad was one of those things. So he limped forward by himself, ignoring the dull pain in his leg as he stopped in front of the door.

He reached out and rang the doorbell, standing back to wait. It took a few minutes before the door slipped open, and a sleek, middle-aged man peered out at them from between the golden double doors. His body and posture were that of a modest businessman, but his eyes betrayed the obsessed demon that dwelt within. He looked at each of them in turn, looking more confused when his eyes trailed back to Danny.

"I don't recall sending out children's party invitations." Vlad quipped dryly.

"The Reaper, Vlad." Danny said darkly. "The Reaper. What do you know about it?" Vlad's expression instantly turned sour as Danny shifted uncomfortably on his feet, drawing attention to the bandages wrapped around his calf. Vlad looked up at the others for a moment before sweeping his arm grandly and moving aside to let them into the main hall of his mansion. He closed the doors once they were inside, locking them securely and dropping the key into a breast pocket.

"The Reaper is an entity as old as the Ghost Zone. They say it's the ghost of the first man ever to die, but that's just unfounded superstition really. No ghosts really remember where he came from." Vlad turned back to them with his hands clasped behind him back.

"He's after me. He thinks I'm dead because I'm part ghost." Danny pointed his finger at him. "You're part ghost too. You must have dealt with him before."

"Of course, that would be the logical conclusion wouldn't it?" Vlad nodded. "But I really fail to see what I would get from helping you. You've always refused to have anything to do with me Daniel, you never wanted me as a friend. Yet now in your time of need you come crawling back. How convenient for you." Vlad's stare was venomous, and it made Danny uncomfortable. The fact that he was right made the accusation worse.

"This isn't the time for sarcasm or games." Jazz insisted. "Whatever is after my brother could be right on his tail, we don't have time for this. Please help us. We'll do anything you want."

"Is that right, Jasmine?" His gaze lingered on her for an uncomfortably long time before he turned his gaze back to Danny. "What I want has been clear all along. I'm far too old to have a son, and even if I did there's no way they could understand me the way Daniel does." He knelt down in front of Danny, who'd taken to staring at the floor to avoid eye contact. "You know what I want Daniel. And you still know what I can offer."

"I'll never join you." Danny insisted.

"Then I suppose-" Vlad began, but Sam stepped between them.

"Hold on, Danny's had a long day. We haven't slept really well, and we've both been up and around for a long time with barely any food. We haven't even had a good shower yet. Let us get washed up and rested. Then we'll give you his answer." Sam insisted. Danny still refused to look up as Vlad Masters stood up in front of her, an understanding smile crossing his lips.

"Of course my dear, you make an excellent point. Perhaps some rest and time to think will make things clear." Vlad gestured toward the stairs. "I believe Daniel knows where the bedrooms and restrooms are located. Feel free to make use of them."

"Thank you." Sam turned back to Danny and took his arm in both of hers, helping him limp toward the staircase. Jazz and Tucker moved to follow, but Sam shot them a warning glance that said they needed to be alone for a while. So they remained behind with Vlad in the main hallway. They were well fed and rested anyway, while Danny and Sam both looked and smelled like they hadn't had a shower in days thanks to their trek through the forest and their struggles.

"Why did you stop me? I'll never say yes." Danny said once Sam had locked one of the bedroom doors behind them.

"I don't know Danny. Would you really rather die than at least pretend to go along with him for a little while?" Sam asked.

"Maybe." Danny replied defensively. "He's evil, and a criminal. And he's insane."

"I know, but we're out of options." Sam walked up to him and took one of his hands. "Even if you say no, this gives us a chance to wash up if nothing else. Come on." She pulled him toward the room's private bathroom. Danny went with her without complaint, allowing himself to be pushed down on the toilet seat so Sam could kneel down and carefully unwrap the bandage from his leg. The wound underneath looked prominent, but all traces of bleeding had long ceased and the wicked scab was strong.

"It's been feeling better. I can walk on it without feeling like it's going to rip open now." Danny said.

"That's a good sign." Sam ran her hands over his leg, tenderly tapping the nasty gash with one finger. "But it's still gotten a bit dirty. Come on, I'll help you take a bath." Sam announced suddenly.

"Wh... whuh...?" Danny mumbled in surprise.

"Oh get over it, you're hurt and I'm not going to leave you to struggle along alone." Sam walked over to the tub and started the water running. Danny gulped and didn't complain anymore as he stood up. He turned away from Sam and pulled his shirt off. He looked down at his pants, dreading having to bend over like this, but Sam moved up beside him and took his arm, helping him limp back to the bathtub.

With some embarrassment Danny allowed Sam to push his pants down, though he did notice she remained behind him the entire time. She helped him slide his good foot into the tub and lower himself into the water, letting his wounded leg hang over the side of the tub so it wouldn't sting in the soon-to-be-soapy water. Danny settled into the water comfortably with his head resting against the corner of the tub while Sam turned the water off and moved back up to his head.

"Here." She handed him a washcloth, then moved down to the leg hanging out of the tub. Danny started washing his torso while she dipped her cloth in the water and began gently washing his exposed leg, being very careful around the area of the wound.

"This feels pretty nice." Danny said, nodding his head toward the water. "You tend to forget how nice the little things are until you don't have them anymore."

"Yeah, no kidding." Sam agreed. "I feel like I should be peeing on street corners and stealing burgers from trash cans." Danny chuckled slightly, finishing his torso and dropping the washcloth into the water at his waist.

Sam finished with his leg in a few moments and scooted up the side of the tub to sit beside him, leaning against the head of the tub so that her back was almost against his, leaning her head back so that their heads were side-by-side.

"You see this coming yesterday?" Danny asked.

Sam chuckled. "Not in a million years. It's hard to believe it's only been one day now. Not even 24 hours and look at us..."

"I know. I thought I would be sitting at home playing the computer again. Not sitting in Vlad's bathtub trying not to explode from having you see me like this." Danny said. He smiled when he heard a laugh bubble out of Sam's mouth as a wide smile spread across her face. "It's a traumatic thing you know."

Sam turned her head to the side to look at him, looking upside down into his eyes. "Well, you don't have to be nervous. I'm not some petit little virgin waif who'll faint at the sight of it. Well, I am a virgin but... y'know." Sam suddenly turned bright red and looked away from him. "I cannot believe I just said that."

This time it was Danny's turn to laugh. "Like I didn't already know that." He grinned. Sam finally turned to look back at him as the smile faded from his lips. They stared at each other for a long moment until Danny reached one hand out of the water, craning it over the side of the tub to run two wet fingers over her cheek. Sam looked at him quizzically, but didn't move away.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked curiously.

"Just appreciating, I guess." Danny replied seriously. "Appreciating what it is that I thought I lost." His fingers trailed down her cheekbone slowly, but couldn't go any farther from that position. Sam stared at him for a moment, then moved away from the tub to turn around and scoot face-first up against the side of the tub. She leaned her elbows on the side and rested her chin on her hands while she looked at him.

"You know, in the forest behind my house, I thought for a few minutes that I was going to lose you too." Sam admitted softly.

"How did you feel?" Danny asked.

"Like I would never be happy again." Sam replied honestly. "Not that I'm happy all that often anyway but... it still wasn't fun." She smiled slightly at her own joke. Danny smiled back and turned slightly in the tub to face his torso to the side of the tub, reaching out with one hand to touch her cheek more directly. "This is really destroying my Goth girl image right now..."

"You don't need it around me Sam. You know that." Danny smiled slightly, sliding his hand around to the back of her neck. Sam leaned slowly closer, resting her hands on the side of the tub to hold herself up as she moved.

"Getting mushy again..." Sam mumbled as her face neared his, her eyes half closed.

"I'll make it up to you later..." Danny replied as he closed his eyes. He felt Sam's lips touch his own, pressing against them with surprising tenderness for his fire-hearted friend. He felt her hand move off of the side of the tub to slide over his slick chest, wrapping around his neck to pull him into a kiss that was tighter still. Danny wasn't sure what to think, but he knew he'd never felt anything like this before.

The next hour passed in a blur of sensations and emotions, unknown and unidentifiable. The way reality and fantasy began to blend into one was almost unreal, as if a dream he'd had many times had somehow invaded the waking world. But in the back of his mind he knew it wasn't a dream, it wasn't a fantasy. This was reality, a reality he realized he'd been aching for, for a long time now. And it turned out Sam had been aching just as badly.

In what seemed like no time at all the fantasy was over. And yet the strange emotions and feelings it had brought with it remained. And so did Sam, held in his arms as he lay back on the bed in the bedroom Vlad had lent them. Her breath was coming in a steady, deep rhythm, the straps of her black bra pushing into his chest while the wild tangles of hair that hung loose around her head ticked his neck.

"Sam?" Danny asked.

"Hm?" Sam turned her head to rest her cheek on his shoulder so that she was facing him.

"Did you plan this?" Danny asked curiously.

Sam chuckled. "Oh heck no." She smiled dreamily. "No, I didn't plan this. Do I look like Paulina to you?"

"Psh, I wish." Danny scoffed. Sam smacked him in the shoulder hard, glaring up at him. "Hey, kidding, kidding!" Danny held up his arms defensively. "Show me mercy for my humor, please."

Sam smirked again, but didn't move away from him, running her fingers over his chest lightly in a thoughtful motion. "Have you decided what to tell Vlad?" She asked at last.

"I still don't want to join him." Danny replied.

"But I don't want you to die. And I know Jazz, your parents, and Tucker don't either."

"I know." Danny squeezed his arms tighter around Sam as he thought, turning his mind away from the moment into the future where it didn't want to be. "So I guess I have two choices. Let my body die and become a ghost in the Ghost Zone... or let my spirit die and join Vlad to save my body."

"Wow, and I thought I was the pessimist in this relationship." Sam sounded almost appreciative.

"It's hard to be optimistic when you're going to die no matter what you do." Danny smirked and looked down into her eyes, brushing a bit of loose hair out of the way with his fingers. "If nothing else, I'm glad we spent this time together Sam. Not just the last hour, all of it. It really gave me something to hold onto, y'know? Something to appreciate while I was off fighting ghosts and losing everything else."

"You're getting mushy again... but I'm feeling mushy, so I'll let it slide this once." Sam pulled herself up against him slowly so that their faces were right in front of each other. Her arms rested against his chest to hold her up while she stared deeply into his eyes. "Danny, remember what I told you in my house? I'll do everything I can to keep that thing from getting to you... and I meant it. I'm not going to lose you. Especially now that I finally truly have you."

Danny smiled up at her, and she leaned down toward him. Their lips met once more, this one a gentle, understanding gesture that put a bond between them greater than the hour they'd just spent with one another. It was in that moment that Danny finally made up his mind.

It was another hour before Danny and Sam emerged from their secluded hideaway in the large mansion. They were both freshly showered and rested, though without a change of clothing they had to wear the stuff they'd been wearing for the last 24 hours. The pain in Danny's leg bothered him as he marched down the long, wide hallways, but he ignored it. His strength and confidence were bolstered by Sam's hand tightly gripping his own.

They found Vlad, Jazz, and Tucker in the large dining room, where they seemed to be enjoying a hearty dinner. Two additional plates were set out on the table for them, but they ignored them. The three figures turned to watch them as they approached Vlad at the head of the table. Nobody spoke until Danny broke the silence.

"I'll do whatever it takes." Danny said without a trace of doubt. "I'm in... I'm yours."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	8. Hold On

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 08: Hold On

To say that Danny's proclamation came as a shock would be a serious understatement. Especially to Jazz, who thought she had her brother figured out a long time ago. He would never let himself fall under Vlad's control; he would rather die than turn to a life of evil and crime. This was something she had decided when she first discovered his ghost powers. Yet here he was, doing it now. Tucker looked equally stunned, but Sam didn't react and Vlad was delighted.

"Well then, my boy." Vlad stood and clamped a hand on Danny's shoulder, grinning down at him. "I'll tell you all I know about the Reaper in the morning. After we've all had a good night's rest. For now, eat. And don't worry about your clothes, I'll get them washed for you while you sleep tonight. It is far too late in the evening to return home, so you're all welcome here." Vlad gestured to the chairs in front of the meals he had prepared for them. Neither Danny nor Sam said anything as they sat down to eat, both looking lost deep in thought.

Jazz didn't say anything for the rest of the meal, though she watched Danny and Sam with a careful eye. They seemed fidgety and nervous, like they really didn't want to be there. Then why would Danny say such a thing? She managed to down a few more bites before her stomach began doing tricks in her stomach and she had to push her plate back.

"Thanks for the food, but I think I'm finished." Sam said. "I think I'm going to just go straight to bed, if that's alright."

"Of course. Sleep well, my dear." Vlad shot her a gentleman's smile. It was so cool and practiced that Jazz knew it was fake, and it made her even queasier that Danny would serve this greasy slime ball. But this wasn't the place to talk to him about it, so she stood from the table and left the dining room, emerging into the grand entrance hall that split off into the various rooms and staircases.

"Jazz?" Jazz looked back when she heard Tucker emerged from the dining room behind her. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Jazz gestured for him to be quiet and led the way to one of the rooms adjacent to the hallway. She closed the door behind them and made sure it was secure before she gestured for Tucker to speak.

"Jazz, I don't like this at all." Tucker said bluntly. "What does Danny think he's doing?"

"I don't know, maybe he has some kind of plan." Jazz hoped that was the answer, but she wasn't sure.

"Why wouldn't he let us in on it?" Tucker demanded. "He always lets us in on what he's thinking. He always lets me in..."

Jazz looked at him in surprise. She really hadn't thought about Tucker this whole time. He'd been Danny's best friend ever since Jazz could remember; they did everything together and shared absolutely everything. She didn't even consider what Tucker might be feeling to be completely excluded by his friend for the first time. It made her regret looking down on him so much up to now.

"Tucker, look." Jazz began. "I know this is tough, but no matter how tough it is on us, it's even tougher on Danny. It's his life we're dealing with here, and we can't make his decisions for him."

"But you're bossy. You always try to make his decisions for him." Tucker fired back drolly.

"Okay, you're lashing out in pain. That's okay, I can take it." Jazz brushed it off. "It's a perfectly normal and natural response to being so utterly helpless and inconsequential in the face of your friend's plight."

"Gee, thanks, got any more words of wisdom for me?" Tucker asked acidly.

"All I'm saying is that it'll pass. Danny will figure out what he's doing, and things will go back to the way they were. You're still his best friend, even if he doesn't come to you for everything anymore." Jazz gave him a gentle smile, but he just looked away from her. "Growing up does mean growing apart... but it doesn't mean losing each other. And I know my brother, he would never leave you behind forever."

This time she saw a small smile tug at the corners of Tucker's mouth. "You know, the first time we separated was over a girl at school. I thought after that I knew how it was going to be and nothing could surprise me anymore. We'd argue sometimes, but we'd always BE there, you know? Now it's almost like..." He trailed off for a moment and heaved a sigh. "Like Danny doesn't want me around anymore. And now this Reaper is after him... something could happen to him, Jazz."

Jazz put a comforting hand on his shoulder and gently pulled him up straight. "For now, Danny is going to need all the support we can give him. I don't know what he's planning and, believe me, I wish I did. But it's his life, and neither of us can make this decision for him. Let's just help him, okay? Like you've been doing since he got his powers."

"Yeah, alright. Let's go." Tucker nodded. Jazz smiled and gently turned to lead him out of the small room, leading him upstairs to the bedrooms on the second floor of the mansion. Jazz made sure he was lying down before she left the room, leaning against his door in deep thought for a little while. She really did think it was best to let Danny make the decisions... but that didn't mean she didn't deserve to know what he was planning to do.

Jazz moved away from the door and made her way back to the main entrance. Through the doors she could see Sam and Danny just finishing up their meals and saying their goodnights to Vlad, who had finished but was still talking with them in hushed tones.

Jazz ducked behind the stairs on the other side of the kitchen doors and listened to the pair of footsteps making their way up to the second floor. Danny's footsteps were still offbeat, implying that he was limping his way along, but at least he was moving under his own power.

When their footsteps were muffled by the upstairs carpet Jazz crept out from behind the staircase, tiptoeing up the stairs in pursuit. She crept along after the footsteps, hearing them murmuring softly to each other until they stopped at one of the first doors in the long hallway. The door opened and closed as Jazz watched from the stairwell before tiptoeing across the hallway to the door.

She kneeled down to her hands and knees to press her ear against the crack of the door, straining to listen to the conversation inside.

"-If you made the right decision or not, Danny." Sam was saying from inside the room. "It's definitely a risk, but the alternative seems like simple death."

"Yeah, I guess. Did you see Jazz's face though? I thought she was going to pee herself." Danny's voice laughed lightly. Jazz huffed, but kept herself carefully silent. "I guess tomorrow we're going to discuss strategies to fight the Reaper off. I've gotta admit Sam, it's kind of a relief knowing Vlad's on my side now. He's usually such a pain in the butt."

"I guess I can understand that." Sam replied. "But remember, we can't let our guard down around him. He's a sly one, that greasy rat. Can't trust a thing he says."

"You don't trust any businessmen." Danny retorted.

"And that's why I'm the fit one, isn't it porky?" Jazz heard Danny grunt as if elbowed in the ribs. "Don't have any suits telling me that McDonald's cow-patties are the way of the future."

There was a moment's silence. "Cow patties?"

"You heard me." Sam insisted. "Seriously though, you concentrate on what you have to do. I'll watch your back. Like I always have."

"I'll keep an eye on you too... I'll be there to catch you if you fall again." Danny replied in a more gentle tone of voice.

"Is that a mushy promise?" Sam asked with a hint of something strange in her voice that Jazz was unfamiliar with.

"A vow..." Danny replied. They both lapsed into silence, but Jazz was sure she could hear something going on. A soft rustle, but nothing more. At last Jazz shook her head and moved away from the door. Clearly they had finished speaking, though Jazz had never known them to sleep in the same room. Come to think of it, she was pretty sure each of these rooms had only one bed.

Jazz shook her head and climbed to her feet, turning to walk to one of the open bedrooms on the other side of the hall. Perhaps tomorrow she would have to have a talk with Danny about the birds and the bees. She doubted either of her parents ever thought to do it, so as usual the duty of being a surrogate parent fell on her shoulders. What timing though, for it to start happening now.

"Still awake, Jasmine?" Jazz yelped and whirled when she heard Vlad's voice from behind her. He approached with his usual calm, overly smooth expression on his face. "It's getting rather late in the evening, and we need to get an early start in the morning. One must never waste a lot of time when dealing with a being such as the Reaper. Bad things happen to those who take him lightly."

"Yeah, I just like to take a walk before I go to sleep. You know, get those limbs nice and tired." Jazz smiled nervously. Vlad smiled down at her kindly, but behind the kindness was dangerous venom. Jazz gulped. The last time she'd seen Vlad she'd been on a mission to infiltrate his mansion, and it hadn't ended very well for Vlad. But surely he wasn't the type to hold a grudge... aw who was she kidding?

"I just wanted you to know how thrilled I am that Daniel has finally realized what a natural pair we would make. And I do hope, seeing as Daniel is my surrogate son, that you too will see me as something of a father." Vlad smiled hopefully.

"F... father? Oh, y-yeah, right. You got it... pops." Jasmine grinned nervously.

Vlad's slick smile stayed on his face as he moved closer to her. Jazz tried her best not to look nervous, but she was afraid she couldn't anymore. Danny was just two rooms away and one yell would bring him out to help her in two seconds flat, but who knew what Vlad could do to her in those two seconds? Who knew if she would have two seconds to spare?

Her back hit the door with a thud as Vlad approached and lifted one hand. His fingers lightly touched her chin as he stared into her eyes, that same sickeningly slick smile never leaving his face. She wasn't sure what he was doing or what he was thinking, but many theories sprang to mind, none of which were comforting.

"You really are just like your mother, Jasmine. The same almost ghostly beauty." Vlad told her.

"Th-thanks. I get that a lot." Jasmine's breath quickened in fear. Was he really planning on trying something with her? It was a common psychological occurrence, she told herself. The transference of feelings from one person to another. In this case from her mother, who was inaccessible, to herself, who was right here. Not that she was any more eager to get with a sick old freak like Vlad Masters. She drew in a deep breath, getting ready to scream for Danny when suddenly Vlad's fingers slipped away from her chin.

"Sleep well, dear child." Vlad smiled. "And get plenty of rest. The future is looking bright and we want to be there to meet it." With a graceful, courteous nod Vlad swept further down the corridor away from her, leaving her leaning weak-kneed against the door.

It took Jazz a moment to fumble for the doorknob and shove it open so that she could tumble inside. She shut the door as quickly as she could and leaned against it, her heart pounding in her chest. For a moment she was sure he was about to do something to her. The thought of it made her blood run cold, but she quickly shrugged it off. She knew Vlad was a snake. That was no surprise to her. And it didn't matter because she was here to support Danny.

She pushed herself off the door to go to bed, but suddenly her knees gave out and she tumbled to the floor, as the world suddenly faded into darkness.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	9. Paint it Black

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 09: Paint It Black

Danny's eyes slowly opened, and he was somewhat surprised to find himself lying in an unfamiliar room until his memories of the previous day returned. It was his first real sleep in a soft bed in two days, and it left him groggy. But the sight of Sam's bare back in front of him brought it all back, as well as putting a broad smile on his face. One of his hands reached out before him to touch the soft flesh of her back.

He heard a groan escape Sam's lips a moment before she rolled to her back, one arm holding the blanket up over her chest. She stared up at him through almost-closed eyes, her hair a wild tangle and her body now lying limp under the sheet like she'd been beaten to death.

"Not a morning person, are you?" Danny asked. Sam grumbled something inaudible. "Well, I think it's a great morning." He leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah, lovey, lovey, go away." Sam rolled away from him and snuggled back into her pillow. "It's too early."

"Come on Sam, get up." Danny sat up and grabbed Sam's arm to pull her to a sitting position. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty anxious to get this over with. The sooner we deal with the Reaper, the better."

Sam yawned and stretched as Danny climbed out of the bed, gathering up his clothes from the floor and tossing Sam hers. They dressed as quickly as they could and emerged from their room at the same time Tucker emerged from his a little ways down the hall. A broad grin broke Danny's lips as he approached his best friend of many, many years. Tucker looked to be in shock however at seeing them emerge from the same bedroom.

"Did you two... um... did..." Tucker stammered.

"We did NOT do anything we'll regret, if that's what you're asking." Danny replied with a sly smile.

"Um..." Tucker stammered for a moment longer before finally shaking his head. "Yeah, I guess it's none of my business anyway." He smiled slightly. "Look, Danny, I'm-"

Danny looked around when he realized someone was missing. "Hey, wait a sec. Where's Jazz? She's always awake before me. It's like a tradition."

Tucker's shoulders slumped slightly, but Danny didn't notice. He had way too much on his mind to worry about Tucker's shoulders. "I don't know. I haven't seen her today either."

"It's not like her to sleep in, especially when something this important is going on." Danny noted worriedly. "Maybe we should look for her." No sooner had he suggested in than Jazz emerged from her bedroom, closing the door daintily behind her. She grinned when she saw them and approached with a friendly wave.

"Hey everyone, Vlad told me he's waiting downstairs in the library. We should get going as soon as we can." Jazz said.

"Yeah, we can have breakfast once business is taken care of." Danny nodded. "But are you okay Jazz? Sleeping in is so not like you."

"Oh, don't worry about me. I was up late last night. It's nothing to worry about at all." Jazz waved away the question with a dismissive hand and moved past them toward the staircase. Danny, Sam and Tucker exchanged a curious glance at the sudden brush off, but turned to follow her down the stairs silently. Jazz led them through the mansion to stop outside of the large wooden double-doors that led to Vlad's library.

Jazz turned back to them. "He told me he only wants Danny and his blood relatives in the room. Something about ancient ghost rites."

Sam narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What's wrong with me and Tucker going in there? We're LIKE his family."

"Hey, if it was up to me you'd be in there, but we can't risk anything going wrong with this." Jazz replied.

"She's got a point, we need to play it by the book. Relax guys, I'll be fine. I promise." Danny's eyes locked with Sam's for a moment and he gave her a comforting smile before allowing Jazz to lead him into the library.

The large wooden doors were closed and locked behind him, a fact that made even Danny look at his sister with a suspicious gaze. She turned and smiled back at him.

"Can't have them interrupting. Come on." Jazz gestured for him to follow and turned to approach the large reading desk set against the far wall. The high-backed chair behind it was turned away from them.

"Daniel my boy. It makes my old heart soar to finally have a family who understands me and all that I've gone through." Vlad said.

"Yeah, sure, it's great... um... dad." Danny replied. "If it's okay, I was kind of hoping we could get to the part about stopping the Reaper. You know, as father and son."

Danny stepped back when he heard an uproarious laugh echo throughout the massive room, a genuine laugh of maniacal humor that Danny had never heard from his throat before.

"Daniel, my boy. Who ever said I was talking about you?" Danny screamed suddenly as an ecto blast burned into his side, throwing him to the floor where he lay groaning and twitching, caught completely by surprise. Twisting to look, he saw Vlad become visible standing beside Jazz, his vicious red eyes just the tip of the change that overcame him when he assumed his otherworldly ghost form.

"B... but yesterday... we had a deal." Danny grunted and pushed himself slowly to his feet, clutching his side.

"I finally reached a realization. Why should I settle for an ungrateful, insincere surrogate son when I can have a real son with a woman who is more than a match for your mother? A true heir to my empire, raised by a woman who will be wholly and completely devoted to my legacy?" Vlad's hand slipped around Jazz's waist, his arm gripping her and pulling her gently up against his side.

Danny's eyes went wide, his eyes moving from his hand up to Jazz' face. Her expression was cool and calm, with a strangely crooked smile on her normally so bright and innocent face. Danny's gaze moved to Vlad's face, his fists clenching at his sides. "What did you do..." Danny said softly. When he didn't immediately get an answer he screamed. "What did you do to her!?"

"Nothing that will be any concern of yours for much longer, Daniel." Vlad's grin only widened. Danny's breath caught in his throat and his lip curled into a snarl, no longer able to control himself. The ectoplasm burst through his body and he flung himself forward with a vicious scream, his ghostly fists coming back to attack with all the force he had.

Vlad raised one hand, a massive violet ecto-blast meeting Danny halfway, throwing him back again across the room to hit the floor with a heavy thud. "I finally awakened to the truth, Danny." Vlad said as he released Jazz to approach him. "Your heart would always resist... just like Maddie's. But Jazz, my future son... they can come to know me as their family. They can come to cherish me, even after I'm gone."

"You sick bastard..." Danny growled and pushed himself to his feet. "Jazz would never want this. She's way too smart. You're controlling her somehow. And I won't rest until you free her!" Danny hurled himself at Vlad again, his fist flying toward his face in a wide, ferocious arc.

Vlad jerked out of the way, his hands raising in front of him to block several more attacks. That mocking, infuriating grin never left his face for an instant. "That is the beauty of this, Daniel. Now that your ectoplasm is flaring up, you are as good as a beacon to the one who you sought to avoid." Danny heard and knew what he was saying, but he didn't care. The only thing on his mind was Jazz. He wouldn't let him keep her like a puppet to use for his sick plans. He wouldn't.

"I won't let you use her!" Danny attacked again, his fists flying wide from their mark. Danny's fists flashed with green ecto-energy, several blasts firing almost right next to Vlad, but a violet ecto-shield blocked them before they could reach him. "I'll KILL you first!" Danny's eyes flashed blue and he raised both hands, a massive burst of ghostly cold washing from his hands in Vlad's direction.

Vlad grabbed his cape and spun it in front of him, vanishing just before the blue energy could reach him. Suddenly a strong arm closed around his throat from behind, yanking Danny off of his feet and crushing him tightly against a strong, broad chest. Danny struggled against it, but Vlad's crushing grip quickly robbed him of breath and gave him no leverage to move.

Danny shuddered when he felt a cold chill rush through his body. A wind from nowhere that whipped through the library, blowing Vlad's cape around them.

Vlad's voice was full of mocking anticipation as he spoke. "That's him, Daniel. He's come for you, and this time there is no escape. You are going to the Ghost Zone forever, and I am going to start my family."

"I won't... I won't..." Danny snarled as he struggled to speak through a crushing windpipe. "I won't... let you..." Danny clenched his fists, his entire body shuddering. "TAKE HER!" Danny flung both of his arms above his head, firing a massive ecto-blast straight into the ceiling above their heads. The blast tore through the ceiling viciously, the support beams collapsing under the strain as the second floor collapsed in on them. It caught Vlad by surprise, but Danny was ready. He phased through the rubble as it fell and pummeled Vlad to the floor. He was quickly lost from sight, but Danny floated intangibly out of the rubble and turned to look back.

"Ugh... what...?" Jazz's voice was shuddering when she spoke from behind him.

"Jazz!" Danny whirled and ran toward her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You're okay!"

"Danny?" Jazz blinked in surprise. "Wh... what happened? Last thing I remember is going in my room, passing out..."

"Well..." Danny struggled to find the words, but both of the Fenton siblings whirled in surprise when a blast ripped through the wall of the library. The morning sunlight filtered in through the hole as a figure stepped through the rubble. The figure was human, with ghostly green flesh framing a face twisted into a maliciously eager grin that was punctuated by a pair of blood-red pools where the eyes should have been. On its body were the crushed pieces of a familiar ecto-mechanical suit.

Danny's eyes went wide. "Valerie!?"

The bitter cold seemed to be emanating from Valerie's powerful form the same way it did from the Reaper himself. When she spoke it was with an ethereal voice that echoed in his mind long after she was finished speaking. "Make your peace, Danny Fenton. I'm bringing you to Hell with me."

Without warning Valerie launched herself at him, her body moving so fast Danny didn't even have time to go intangible. Her leg smashed into his face, knocking him clear across the library and into the massive wooden doors. His back slammed into them hard enough to smash the door locks and send them flying wide open behind him. He grunted as he hit the floor at Tucker's feet.

"Danny!" Jazz, Tucker, and Sam shouted in unison. Danny grunted, staring up at Sam and Tucker standing over him with concerned looks on their faces. Behind their faces he saw the ceiling shift slightly. Between his blast and Valerie ripping through the outer wall, a lot of damage was being done to this place. There was no telling how long the mansion could keep standing at this rate.

"Jazz." Danny gasped out as he pushed himself off the floor. "Take Jazz... get to the Plasmeus Portal."

"The portal? We're going to the Ghost Zone!?" Tucker exclaimed.

"Just do it!" Danny snapped. He didn't have time to explain before Valerie emerged form the library, moving at a slow, mocking stride. When they saw her Tucker and Sam both stepped back in alarm, but the ghost paid them no heed. All of her focus was on Danny.

"Are you ready to pay for your sins, ghost boy?" Valerie asked without a trace of humor in her voice. She slowly walked around him, her hands hanging loose at her side while her eyes kept close watch.

"How did this happen?" Danny asked, turning to watch her.

"How do you think!?" Valerie snapped. "Did you think I would grow wings!? Did you think some miracle would save me!? NO! You murdered me, Danny Fenton, and I won't rest in peace until you come with me!" This set Danny back. He hadn't really thought about it. When was the last time he saw Valerie? Outside the plane. He'd frozen her board, but he was sure she would find some way. She always did.

"I... I didn't mean..." Danny stammered.

"Shut up!" Valerie lunged at him, her hands coming around expertly.

Danny raised his arms to try to deflect her blows, but swift strikes to his wrists knocked his hands out of the way before her arms came back around, plunging into his chest at the same time. Danny yelped and slammed back into the wall with a heavy thud, but the assault didn't stop. He tried desperately to block, but she knew just how to get around and through his defenses.

Her fists slammed into his face, knocking him to the side. Danny's body shimmered slightly as his intangibility kicked in, allowing him to go through the wall and into the main hallway where he stumbled to the ground. He climbed to his feet and looked back to see Valerie's leg smash through the wall, knocking it to the floor in a shower of debris. She was like the Reaper. She wasn't phasing through walls.

With a howl the came at him, leaping into the air and spinning through it as her leg came around. Danny rolled underneath her, skidding to a stop on his feet and throwing both hands behind his back, a pair of ecto-blasts catching his opponent off-guard. Valerie stumbled from the force of the blasts, but when Danny turned to look his energy was being absorbed into her the same way it did with the Reaper.

"There's no fighting me Danny. He has given me all I need to destroy you. And all of your ghost buddies." Valerie grinned, raising her hands in front of her to crack her knuckles. "Now please, keep struggling. I've been waiting for this."

Danny whirled to face her, but she reached him before he could mount any sort of defense. She grabbed his wrist with one hand, her knee burying itself in his side before her leg straightened and slammed into the front of his face, knocking him back once again. She whirled in front of him, one foot slamming straight into his face. Danny flew back toward the far wall again, phasing through it to the floor beyond.

With a grunt he rolled to his hands and knees. Raising one hand to his lips, it came away covered in blood leaking from his nose. He barely had time to register this before he heard the wall behind him come crumbling down. The mansion groaned as if in pain, the damage slowly but surely weakening the support structure. It couldn't last much longer now.

Valerie leapt through the air, bringing her fist down in a massive arc toward his face. Danny rolled out of the way and lashed out with both legs, slamming them into her side. Caught off-guard, Valerie slammed face-first into the floor and skidded away from him, giving him time to climb to his feet. Valerie spun to a standing position and lashed out at him, but Danny leapt into the air out of reach, flying through the air and phasing through the wall away from her.

"Come back here, coward!" He heard Valerie's scream through the thick mansion walls, and soon she came barreling after him, breaking through the solid walls. Danny flew down the hallway, then turned down toward the floor and phased into Vlad's laboratory where the Plasmeus Portal was glowing softly. He saw Sam standing beside the portal, her face shining with relief at the sight of him.

"Danny, come on! Hurry!" Sam shouted.

Danny turned to run to her, but the roof suddenly collapsed overhead and Valerie plunged through the ceiling right on top of him, one leg slamming into the back of his head and knocking him to the floor. Valerie landed amid the pile of debris and turned back to them, climbing to her feet with her fists tightly clenched.

Danny stood up slowly and turned to face her as she spoke. "Not even going to try to run? That suits me. You can't hide, Danny. Not even in the Ghost Zone. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I can find you. And for the rest of eternity I will devote my afterlife to making sure you suffer for all that you've done to me."

"I didn't... I didn't mean to hurt you, Valerie." Danny panted. "But I can't let it end here. I made a promise, and I will not go back on it!" Danny took a deep breath and opened his mouth in a massive scream, an unmatchable shockwave of pure power pouring from his mouth. The Ghostly Wail ripped through the laboratory, tearing through anything caught in its path.

The ghostly power flooded through Valerie, sliding her back away from him but not doing any damage. But the walls began to shudder from the force as the already weak support structure of the mansion absorbed a blast it couldn't possibly hope to sustain. Danny didn't let up when the rumbling started, the sound of the walls on the first floor collapsing was only the first sign of the entire mansion beginning to come down. The roof of he basement began to bow inward, threatening to come down right on top of them any second.

Danny collapsed to the floor as the ghost energy faded. The ectoplasm drained, his body shifted back into the plain old child Danny Fenton, who was too weak to move much less run.

"Danny, come on!" Sam ran across the lab and grabbed him, hauling him back toward the Ghost Portal. "We've got to get out of here!"

"This isn't over Danny!" Valerie screamed as the rubble began to come down around her. She tried to reach him, but the ceiling right over her head collapsed and a massive steel beam slammed into her shoulders, knocking her to her knees. Even with her ghostly strength she couldn't lift it off of her, so all she could do was glare at them with a look of utter hatred. "I will return everything you've done to me! Tenfold!"

"I'm sorry Valerie..." Danny said softly. Sam wrapped her arms around him and dragged him the last few feet back into the Plasmeus Portal just before the entire mansion came crumbling to the ground.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	10. Man in the Mirror

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 10: Man in the Mirror

The Ghost Zone was quiet. An infinite number of doors floated silently through the open space, dotted by the islands that moved and shifted around one another like planets moving through the vacuum of space. Upon one of these small islands, barely big enough for four to lay down upon without bumping into each other, sat Danny Fenton, perched near the edge staring out into the shining ectoplasmic space. He could hear the others behind him speaking in hushed tones, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. He didn't care.

He couldn't stop thinking about Valerie. Her ghostly face twisted in seething hatred, hatred directed at him. He had never meant to hurt her, let alone kill her. No matter how crazy she got he'd never wanted to be a murderer. Yet here he was. He hadn't realized what he was doing at the time, but he was a murderer. Or did he? He wasn't sure anymore. Did he really think she could survive that fall with her jet board frozen like it was? Did he want her to die? The thought made him shudder.

He turned his head slightly when Tucker sat down on the land beside him, looking out into the space of the Ghost Zone. Danny looked away from him again out into the sea of energy and doors.

"You okay, dude?" Tucker asked in a solemn tone.

"I killed her, Tuck." Danny replied simply. "I killed her, there's no two ways around it."

"Come on, I know you wouldn't do it on purpose." Tucker waved him off.

"I destroyed her jet board and let her fall from that height. I didn't think about it at the time, but what else could have happened?" Danny asked. Tucker remained silent for a few moments while Danny looked down at the land beneath him. "I thought Sam was going to die because of her. I... I'm afraid I really meant to do it, Tuck."

Tucker didn't respond. There was no way to respond, really. The silence grew increasingly uncomfortable until Danny cast a glance over his shoulder at Jazz and Sam, who were speaking on the other side of the small island in hushed tones. Danny's eyes locked on Jazz, remembering suddenly what Vlad had told him. She was in danger now too. There was no way Vlad would give up once he set his mind to something.

"How's Jazz?" Danny asked suddenly, both to get some information and break the uncomfortable silence.

"Jazz?" Tucker looked over his shoulders at the girls in surprise. "She seems fine, just like her old self. She asked me to leave them alone for a 'girl talk'." Tucker looked over at Danny slyly. "I think she's lecturing Sam about the birds and the bees." Danny's head jerked toward him, then he blushed and looked away into the Ghost Zone. "Finally got your head on straight huh?"

"I've done a lot of thinking since this all started." Danny replied. "About what I wanted in life. Facing Death right in the face tends to give you a new perspective on things I guess."

"Yeah, I guess. But all that philosophical stuff aside, you got to do it. Good for you." Tucker nudged his shoulder and winked. Despite all of his troubles and worries, Danny had to laugh at his friend. A genuine, if soft, laugh. Tucker just smiled over at him. Danny looked back, sharing the smile like only a pair of best lifelong friends could.

"Oh for the love of God Jazz, I'm not a three year old! I know I know I know already!" Sam screamed and stood up behind them. "You stay here. I'm going over there. Remember. You here. Me there." Sam pointed irritably. Jazz raised her hands defensively and let Sam move over to sit on the other side of Danny. Her cheeks were bright red and she desperately looked like she wanted to be anywhere else.

"She laid into you pretty hard, huh?" Danny asked.

"Not half as hard as Danny did I'm sure." Tucker grinned.

"Oh, don't you even start with me Tucker." Sam glared across Danny as Tucker. "I don't want to hear another Goddamn word about it. It's none of anyone's freaking business but ours!"

"Whoa, chill out. It was just a joke." Tucker held up his hands defensively. "Besides, it only took you a few years to finally get together, I thought maybe it would take a LITTLE while to jump in the sack."

"Are you calling me a slut!?" Sam narrowed her eyes. Danny dutifully slipped back away from them so Sam could face Tucker directly. "Well let me tell you something buster, what me and Danny do is our own Goddamn business and nobody else's, so you can take your stupid accusations and-"

Danny watched his friends bicker and argue about the dumbest things all the time and always hated it. Now though, it brought a smile to his face. It was a bit of normalcy in an impossible situation. He discovered that just watching them helped lighten a spirit dampened by the omnipresent threat of the Reaper and the uncertainty inside of himself.

His smile still in place, he turned to look at the other side of the tiny island, where Jazz was dangling her legs over the infinite expanse below them and watching the doors float past. Danny crawled the short distance over to her and plopped down on the island beside her, letting his legs dangle over the edge. He plucked a rock from the island and hurled it out into the space, where it dropped until they couldn't see it anymore.

"I suppose I should give you the speech about responsibility and wisdom too." Jazz glanced over at him with a half smile. "But it wouldn't do much good, would it?"

"Afraid not." Danny replied, heaving another rock out into the empty space. "I know how to be responsible Jazz, and I know the risks. I also know that this may be the last chance I have. This could be my last day on Earth." Danny looked around at the ghostly doors floating serenely past. "Well, close to Earth."

"That's no reason to jump into something that you're not sure will last." Jazz warned him. "So you live for the moment. What happens if you live long enough to get her pregnant? At fifteen? What would you do then?"

"It's Sam, I'm sure it'll last." Danny replied without a moment's hesitation.

Jazz still looked unconvinced. "I know you and Sam are close. But make sure you go farther because you love each other, and not because of the situation. Love based on shared trauma never lasts, Danny. If you have to do it, do it for the right reasons."

Danny nodded. "I'll be careful Jazz. And I'll think about what you said, I promise." Danny smiled over at her.

"Well, that's all I can ask for, I guess." Jazz smiled. "I know you're responsible Danny, I've seen it every time you fight a ghost to save others. I just don't want you to have anything to regret."

"Thank you." Danny nodded. Jazz smiled and pulled her legs up against her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. Danny glanced over at her worriedly, thinking once again about what Vlad had said.

"How about you?" Danny asked. "How are you holding up?"

"To be honest? I'm a little freaked out." Jazz replied softly. "I have no idea what happened after I passed out last night. It's like I went to sleep and woke up there in the library fully conscious." Her light green eyes turned to him, this time seeking comfort instead of offering it. It was a position Danny had never found himself in with her, and it made him a bit uncomfortable. "What happened to me Danny? Was I Overshadowed?"

"I'm really not sure what happened myself." Danny admitted. "Vlad did something, I know that, but... I couldn't tell you what." He said. Jazz sighed and nodded in acceptance, looking down. Danny bit his lip, trying to decide whether to tell her what Vlad's plan was. What would she say to that? That Vlad wanted to take advantage of her and make her his brainwashed bride. That he wanted her to be the mother of his child. Danny didn't want to worry her so much. It wasn't the time for that anyway...

"Time..." Danny said softly to himself, suddenly coming to a realization as he bolted to his feet. Jazz turned to look up at him, startled by the sudden movement. "That's it. Vlad said something yesterday when we first got there. He said no ghost knows the Reaper's true nature because it's so far in the past. But that's not true." Danny looked down at his three friends. Sam and Tucker, who had just been about to throw some punches, looked up at him in surprise. "He said no ghosts know his nature because nobody remembers a time before it existed."

"Yeah, so?" Jazz asked.

"That's not true either." Danny replied fervently. "There is a ghost who would remember a time before the Reaper existed. A ghost who would remember and be able to tell us everything we need to know." Danny looked around at his friends as his body shifted into his spectral ghost form. He could use it again after a good rest, though it would still take them a long time to cross the vast Ghost Zone without the Specter Speeder. "Let's go. We've got to get to him before the Reaper or Valerie get to us."

"Who, Danny?" Sam asked confusedly.

"The one ghost who remembers before time began." Danny replied. "Clockwork."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	11. Turn the Page

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 11: Turn the Page

The vast expanse of the Ghost Zone passed around them as they flew in a bird-like formation, with Danny at the head while Sam, Jazz, and Tucker flew from his arms like a great pair of wings. Progress was slow, as Danny wasn't able to easily carry so many people even in this place, but they kept on as fast as they could. If any ghost or human alive could tell them what they needed to know, it would be Clockwork. But his home was in the furthest reaches of the Ghost Zone.

It didn't take much physical strength to fly, but Danny was feeling drained soon and had to move toward a landmass to rest. It was larger than the one they'd landed on after jumping in the Plasmeus Portal. The opposite ends of it wound off into the distance in either direction. Danny figured it must have been one of those few places in the Ghost Zone that could qualify as a continent.

Danny sighed in relief as his ghost form faded and he stood before his friends as plain old Danny Fenton.

"You have any idea where we are?" Sam looked around curiously.

"No idea. I've never entered from Vlad's portal before. All I know is we have to go inward, which is toward the doors." Danny pointed the right direction. "Other than that, your guess is as good as mine."

"You know, it occurs to me that you have an awful lot of enemies here." Jazz said nervously. "Maybe we shouldn't run around advertising our presence. Especially while you're trying to keep a low profile to avoid the Reaper."

"No argument here." Danny replied. "Trust me, if anyone can stay invisible, it's me." Danny smiled and poked his thumb into his chest with a humorous smile.

"Danny, look out!" Sam yelled from the side and tackled him to the ground. From right where he'd been standing came a tremendous impact, as if something heavy had hit the ground. Danny landed in a pile with Sam, looking around quickly to see what was happening. A thick, powerful motorcycle screeched to a halt on the continent, its rider revving the engine while his passenger looked down at Danny suspiciously.

"What're you doing in the Ghost Zone?" Kitty demanded.

"Leave this to me, baby." Johnny 13 kicked the kickstand down on his bike and climbed off, leaving her straddling the seat while he stood to face Danny with his hands crossed over his stomach. Danny pushed himself up to his knees warily, but wasn't overly alarmed. Johnny 13 was one of those ghosts in the Ghost Zone who didn't hate him or want to take over the world, despite an altercation here and there. "Well well. Danny Phantom, wandering through the Ghost Zone. As a human no less. You've got some guts, I'll give you that."

"It's not by choice I assure you." Danny replied as he climbed to his feet. "We're just trying to find someone."

"This is a pretty big place. Could you be a more specific than 'someone'?" Johnny asked.

"We know where he is, we just have to get there." Danny replied. Johnny smirked and tapped the side of his head with one hand.

"I don't see a ride. Trying to fly the whole way? Not a good idea if you ask me." Johnny smirked. "Might want to find yourself some wheels, save you time and headache. Especially since you're dragging the peanut gallery along." His gaze swept across Sam and Tucker, but stopped when they focused on Jazz standing close behind Danny. "Well, look who else it is..."

"We're going to be late, Johnny." Kitty said from the motorcycle, clearly perturbed by his attention toward Jazz. Danny wasn't much happier about it, but decided to let it slide for the moment.

"Yeah, I'm coming baby." Johnny waved a dismissive hand at his girlfriend. "We were just on our way to a concert." Johnny approached Jazz, an act that made Kitty look like she'd leap into his back and rip his heart out. "It's one of the hottest gigs in the Ghost Zone. Why not take a breather from what troubles you and come along? I promise a good time for all." His smile was a bit too suave.

Danny expected Jazz to tell him off, but instead she said, "Sure, that sounds like fun. Doesn't it guys?" Danny, Sam, and Tucker all looked up at her blankly, but she just returned Johnny's smile with one of her own. "I think we could all use something to take our minds off of what's been happening lately."

Johnny was clearly as surprised by the others, but he soon shrugged it off with a grin. "Great, come on. My bike can get us there in ten minutes." He turned to walk back to his bike.

Instantly Danny, Sam, and Tucker all whirled on Jazz. "Are you nuts!?" Sam exclaimed. "We're in a hurry here!"

"We don't have time to sit around and wait for this thing to catch up with Danny!" Tucker added.

"We're going to keep waiting if we don't find ourselves some transport." Jazz said. "Danny's strong, but there are a lot of us, and it would take forever for him to carry us all the whole way." Jazz's smile remained in place as she waved over their heads at Johnny, who received a slap from Kitty once he reached her. "We need wheels. Wheels Johnny has."

"That is a good point." Danny blushed sheepishly. He wished he'd thought of that earlier. He was glad Jazz was sharper than him.

"We go to the concert, make nice with Johnny, and ask him to give us a ride. He seems like a sucker for a pretty face, so I should be able to wear him down." Jazz grinned.

"Yeah, watch it Miss Spears. Don't get too carried away." Sam smirked. Jazz blushed and looked away nervously.

"You guys coming or not?" Johnny called from his bike, where Kitty was huffing on the seat behind him, as if refusing to touch him while Jazz was around.

"Come on. And look enthusiastic." Jazz told them as she moved to rush toward the bike as if excited. Sam, Danny and Tucker exchanged a glance, then pasted on their best happy schoolgirl faces and skipped after Jazz.

Despite how small the bike seemed, all six of the riders fit on it. Though Tucker, who was in the back, was hanging off the end and clinging to Sam's waist for dear life the entire way. Jazz somehow found herself seated right behind Kitty, who was audibly snarling through almost the entire trip, which was short on the astonishingly fast motorcycle. With this thing their trip to Clockwork's tower wouldn't take more than two hours. They had to use this thing.

They never left the continent they'd landed on earlier, the wheels flying across the ghostly landscape until a massive stage loomed in the distance. Its construction was similar to something Danny had once seen of Woodstock footage though, with spikes and flames shooting out of every orifice, it was not a symbol of peace and love. Danny's face went pale and his heart sank when he saw a name written on a giant banner over the stage with a face attached to it.

"This could be bad, Danny." Sam said into his ear, since she was seated directly behind him.

"We just need to lay low. Maybe she won't spot us." Danny feverishly hoped that was true as they approached the stage upon which Ember McLain, the ghostly spirit of youthful rock and rebellion, would soon play. She was also one of Danny's worst enemies, with the attitude of an angry teenager who could hold a grudge for years and years.

Johnny's bike slid to a halt outside of the massive crowd of ghosts and spirits who had gathered. The sheer number of them was astonishing, and with some nervousness Danny recognized a more than few familiar faces among them.

"Relax." Johnny said as though sensing his tension. "Nobody will be looking at YOU." He grinned and gripped Danny's shoulder, leading him into the large crowd. The three girls and Tucker followed them through the gang of ghosts. As nervous as Danny was, Johnny was right. Not a single face turned toward him. All eyes were focused on the center stage, where a massive blue flame suddenly roared into the Ghost Zone. At its center stood a powerful, feminine figure with a guitar hanging across her stomach.

The flames whirled around her body, then flared outward over the crowd's head, dissipating into the air by the time it reached the back. Ember stepped forward into the middle of the stage, gripping the guitar in both hands with a wild look on her face.

"Alright boys and girls! Who's ready to break something!?" Ember shouted to the eager crowd. A uproarious response greeted her, feeding the shining blue flames on top of her head as her wicked grin grew wider. "Then scream it for me babies! Scream it loud and don't ever stop!"

"EMBER!" The crowd roared as Ember's backup band appeared behind her in a series of powerful explosions. The music began on a powerful note that battered the eardrums and would have left the audience deaf if they hadn't already been deafening themselves with their screams.

Jazz had to scream to be heard over the noise of the crowd and the music. "Evil ghost or not, she really knows how to work a crowd!"

"WHAT!?" Tucker screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I SAID-" Jazz stopped and shook her head. "NEVERMIND!" Jazz blinked in surprise when Johnny laid his arm around her shoulders, grinning down at her with a suave look. Kitty, Danny noted, was too absorbed in the music to realize what was happening behind her.

"How are you liking the music!?" Johnny shouted.

"It's great!" Jazz grinned and didn't push him away. They were here to get his cooperation after all, pushing him away wasn't the way to do that.

With nothing else to do, Danny turned back to watch the show. Ember really was quite the performer. Her stage presence was unlike anything he'd ever seen on Earth. She would have been commanding and strong even as a normal person, but her displays of ghostly fire put any technological pyrotechnic displays to shame. The music was a little hard to swallow in his opinion, but she clearly had her fans.

They stood through the whole show, and to Ember's credit Danny found himself really getting into it. He and Sam even decided to have a few dances, though Danny spent much of his time defending Jazz from both Johnny's advances and Kitty's homicide attempts. It was difficult keeping his favor without simply giving him Jazz's body to play with, but they managed to get through it somehow until the ghost on stage appeared winded by the powerful displays she'd been putting forth.

"Yeah baby! Good times!" She shouted into the microphone in front of her. Even with her breath coming in deep gulps, her voice was still powerful. The crowd roared back in response. Despite her fatigue, her face was still lit up by a broad grin that seemed strangely genuine to Danny. Was this what all ghosts were like when they weren't trying to break into the real world?

"I gotta call it a night, but there's no way I'm leaving without one last song." Ember shouted, to a return chorus of screams. "This one is a bit different from the others, but if you don't like it, why the Hell should I care?" The band behind her vanished one by one amid a blast of fire, leaving only Ember herself standing up on the stage. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as her fingers began to strum the strings of her guitar.

Suddenly a massive explosion rocked the entire continent. The blast ripped right through the middle of the crowd, sending ghosts flying in every direction. Several who were caught in the middle of the blast simply vanished, their ectoplasm roaring off into the space of the Ghost Zone. The crowd, panicked at first, fell deathly quiet when they turned and saw another ghostly figure approach from the way Danny and the others had come.

"Nobody move." Valerie lowered her arm to her side as the massive ecto-cannon that had risen from her wrist slowly melted back into her arm. "We've got some questions."

An angry fire flashed in Ember's eyes and she stepped forward on the stage. "How dare you interrupt my concert and destroy my crowd!? Who the Hell do you think you are!?"

"She is my emissary." A deep voice inside the mind commanded. A wave of cold energy swept across the crowd. Even Ember, a ghost of flames, looked like she was shivering, though the fire in her eyes was as strong as ever even as the black cloak of the Reaper floated toward the crowd. The ghosts moved out of the way quickly to get as far away from it as possible. Only Valerie stayed close, standing in front of it like a bodyguard.

Ember dropped off of her stage and marched toward the two intruders. The crowd passed to let her by until she reached the two, standing in front of them with her guitar in her hands and her lip curled in a vicious snarl.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"The ghost-child known as Danny Phantom." The Reaper replied smoothly. "His ecto-energy was last felt near here. This is the closest area to his landing place."

Johnny looked down at Danny in surprise, but Danny slowly shook his head, looking up at the bigger ghosts with an almost pleading gaze. Johnny looked uncertain, but he nodded and turned back to watch the confrontation before them.

Ember responded with a laugh. "You think I would hide him? I would sooner crush his neck under my boot."

"You would not lie to me." The Reaper's tone implied that it was a simple fact rather than a question.

"No, I don't have him. So just get out of my domain. There's no reason to stay here and destroy my fans!" The crowd exploded into a chorus of gasps and screams as the Reaper suddenly flung itself in front of Valerie, its skeletal left hand snapping up Ember's neck before Danny even realized what was happening. Ember gasped for breath as she was hefted high into the air before the crowd, as if the Reaper were displaying a trophy.

"You forget, spirit. You all continue to exist only by my good graces." The Reaper hefted the scythe into the air with its other hand, holding it up in front of Ember. The scythe swung around suddenly. The blade went straight through Ember's stomach, eliciting gasps and winces from the crowd. Even Johnny looked sickened as thick green ooze began to drip from her stomach around the blade.

"Y... you..." Ember's face twisted in pain, her hands clutching at the blade as if to push it out of her. The Reaper yanked his blade out of her stomach and let her drop to the ground, where she lay half-curled with her hands over her stomach, coughing and gurgling in pain.

"When my good graces run out, you will know the embrace of oblivion." The Reaper turned its faceless gaze on the others gathered there. "All would do well to remember this." With that it turned to leave. Valerie turned to follow, though she glanced back at Ember with a strange expression on her face. Still she turned away and left without another word.

For several minutes after they left the crowd could only watch Ember cough and struggle to move. The pool of green ooze, which Danny now recognized as ghostly ectoplasm, expanded slowly around her.

"Ghosts can't die..." Danny looked up at Johnny. "They can't, right?"

"When a ghost dies... they just stop existing. No more... they're done." Johnny replied. Danny turned to look at Ember again, then looked back at Sam, Jazz and Tucker standing behind him. They all looked as shocked as he felt. They never imagined a ghost could get like this, so sad and pathetic in the last moments of their afterlife. To go away, to simply not exist... what horror could being a ghost be compared to that?

Danny turned to look at Ember again, his fists clenched. Ember didn't even do anything wrong this time. Sure she was a pain, but she'd stayed quiet lately. She even seemed concerned about the other ghosts. Her only crime was being here when Danny was. She was about to fade into oblivion just because of Danny.

His mind made up, Danny raced forward. He was glad to hear Sam, Tucker and Jazz right on his heels as he ran, breaking into the crowd that had formed around Ember to kneel down at her side. Her eyes were wide as the pool of ectoplasm beneath her continued to expand.

"Y... you..." Ember sputtered weakly when she saw him kneeling above her. Her eyes were wide in fear. She didn't want to die any more than Danny did. She didn't deserve to die any more than he did. Not now, and not like this.

Danny gestured for Johnny, who'd just walked up to them with Kitty, to hand over his trench coat. When Johnny didn't hand it over Danny glared up at him. "Come on, hurry it up!"

"Nobody's ever survived that." Johnny said. "Nobody's ever been stabbed by that scythe and gone on to talk about it."

"We'll make it happen, now hand it over!" Danny demanded desperately. This time Johnny handed it over, and together the four normal humans wrapped it around Ember's limp form.

With Ember's body wrapped to prevent any more ectoplasm loss and make her easier to carry, Danny slipped his arms under her and climbed to his feet, cradling her in his arms. "Jazz, Sam, Tucker, I need you guys to stay here a little while for me." He looked at Johnny. "We need your bike. I think I can save her, but we have to get to my basement and use my dad's equipment."

"No problem." Johnny said. "You stay here too, Kitten. Make sure nothing happens to the humans."

"Of course, Johnny." Kitty nodded, looking unusually solemn.

With everything taken care of, Danny turned to leave the crowd, making his way back to Johnny's bike with Ember clutched in his arms. Valerie already died because of him, and Sam came so close he had already begun to grieve for her. There was no way he would allow anyone else to be hurt because of his fight. Not even someone who wanted to see him dead.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	12. Remember

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 12: Remember

Johnny's bike blazed through the Ghost Zone. It didn't even need land to move, it hurled through the empty space ten times faster than Danny had ever been able to go. Thankfully, the Fenton Portal was wide open. His parents must not have thought to repair the door.

The Fenton Works basement was just the way Danny left it save for caution tape and warning signs strung up at the entrance. It looked like a crime scene, which Danny supposed it would look like to the people who discovered he was missing like this. It was strange being back here, he hadn't even thought about home since he'd run off toward Sam's. It was like coming full circle, but he wasn't ready to stop just yet. He had a lot of business to attend to before he could relax.

Danny climbed off of the bike and handed Ember to Johnny. "Hold her for a sec, I have to get something." Johnny took Ember from him and watched while Danny went to poke through one of the walk-in closets that lined the room. From inside he pulled a small table with wires leading up to a cover that could close over something, or someone, lying on it.

"What is that?" Johnny asked.

"It's an Ectoplasm Generator." Danny explained. "My dad uses it to test his experiments. But since Ectoplasm seems to be what Ember needs..." He trailed off with a sigh, not wanting to get his hopes up. "Just put her on the table."

Johnny approached and laid Ember carefully down on the table, where they unwrapped the trench coat and let her body lie on the table. Her body was completely limp on the table, like a corpse. But Danny supposed if it were too late she wouldn't even leave a corpse behind. Ghosts were made of ectoplasm, without it they wouldn't have a body to leave. They would have nothing left.

Danny pulled the cover down across the bed, hiding Ember's body from view save for her face, which looked more peaceful than he'd ever seen it. The fire of her hair was a small flickering flame that looked as frail as she now seemed. The machine roared to life around her, humming loudly as the device began to do what it was designed to do. His dad really was a great inventor when he set his mind to something.

"Now we wait." Danny leaned back against the wall, watching the machine on the table hum. Johnny nodded and slipped his trench coat back on after thoroughly wiping the ectoplasm off of it into a nearby trashcan.

"So, time for the big jump for you huh?" Johnny asked as if death was just like a birthday party. "That's what this is all about, right? He doesn't hunt people just for fun."

"He thinks that since I'm part ghost I should already be dead." Danny replied.

"Huh. Never thought of that. Guess it makes sense." Johnny turned back to him. "Ghosts generally are dead."

"But I'm not a normal ghost, I-" Danny began, then stopped himself. "I just don't want to die."

"You think we did?" Johnny smirked. "Me? Kitty? Ember? None of us wanted to die." Johnny walked over and pushed himself onto the desk beside the broken computer, leaning back against the wall while his legs pulled the rolling chair over as a leg rest. "I'd bet anything every single one of us tried to run from him when it first happened. But we were caught, and into the Ghost Zone we went."

Danny looked away. He'd never really thought about the ghosts he fought being human once. They were just ghosts, a menace to society that had to be fought for the good of those who lived in Amity Park. What would he feel when he joined them? Would he become as big a menace as them? No... he could be worse. He already knew that he could be the most dangerous ghost on the planet.

Danny looked up at the basement ceiling when he heard two pairs of footsteps move across the floor above into the kitchen. That had to be his parents. A dull pain struck him suddenly. He wanted to see them, to tell them he was alright. But he had to see this through. Not just for himself, but everyone who was counting on him now. Tucker, Jazz, and Sam. They'd helped him come this far... he had to see it through for them.

Johnny looked up at the ceiling with him, then looked down at Ember still lying on the table between them. "How long do you think this'll take?" He asked.

"She hasn't melted into ectoplasm yet, so that's a good sign." Danny guessed. He didn't actually know anything about how this would work other than guesswork and assumptions. But from his past experiences with ghosts, a ghost who was still physically whole was a ghost who was 'alive'.

With a curious gaze Danny turned to look at Johnny again. "I'm curious... do you remember how you and Kitty... y'know, made the 'jump'?"

Johnny smirked. "Of course I remember. It's like the first time you have sex. Not something you ever forget." Danny blushed a bit at the analogy, but didn't say anything.

"Me and Kitty had just gotten together two weeks before. But it was one of those things that just feels right, y'know? We barely knew each other, but I could protect her and I knew she'd do anything for me. We were a good pair, and it looked like it could last a while. But we were hit by a truck when it swerved on the highway." Johnny said. Danny blinked, expecting him to continue, but he didn't.

"That was it? You were hit by a truck?" Danny asked in amazement.

"Were you expecting something from Shakespeare?" Johnny shrugged. "I wasn't a hero and neither was Kitty. We were two people who got caught in the headlights of a drunk driver. People die like that all the time."

"That's terrible." Danny said. "How old were you?"

"I was twenty-six. Kitty was twenty-three." Johnny looked down at Ember still sleeping peacefully on the table. "That girl there? Nineteen."

"You're kidding. Do you know how she died?"

"None of your business, dipstick." Ember's voice from the table startled both Johnny and Danny to attention. Ember's eyes opened slowly, the flames on top of her head flaring only a little bit brighter than they had been before. Her eyes scanned the ceiling overhead, then turned to settle on Danny as he approached from the side. "What am I doing here?"

"This was the only place we could get you a new supply of ectoplasm." Danny replied.

"Good to see you up, Ember." Johnny told her.

Ember's eyes turned to him and her lips split into a grin. "Hey, it'll take more than an instrument of utter ghostly destruction to take me out, baby." She looked straight up again. Her body twitched somewhat under the cover that continued to feed ectoplasm into her, but in a moment she gave up. "I can't move. Why can't I move?"

"You lost a lot of ectoplasm." Danny told her. "I don't know how long it'll take to recharge you completely, but we should wait a while to be sure."

"My axe... where's my axe!?" Ember looked around the room in a panic, but Johnny put a hand on her forehead and shoved it down on the table with a small thump.

"It's back in your domain. We'll get you back there as soon as we can move you." Johnny told her.

Ember looked up at Danny. "You know, you're an idiot. You could've been rid of me. One less ghost to worry about tearing stuff up in your home."

"You can go ahead and try. I'll just stop you again and again as many times as I have to." Danny replied. "But I don't think you deserve oblivion. I'm not sure anyone deserves that."

"Puh." Ember took a deep breath and closed her eyes, obviously still weak, though she did her best not to sound like it. "You're still an idiot."

"I've been told that before." Danny smiled slightly.

With Ember slowly drifting off into sleep again, Danny sat back on a chair nearby. Johnny shook his head and climbed up on the desk beside the computer again, crossing his arms over his chest. It might be a while before Ember recovered enough to be let out of the Ectoplasm Generator. But Danny didn't think his friends would be in any real danger where they were. The Reaper and Valerie wouldn't bother with them, and they had Kitty there to help them make it through. They would be fine, and Danny would be there as soon as he could.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	13. The Enemy

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 13: The Enemy

Sam wasn't sure what to make of the current situation as she watched Danny ride off into the Ghost Zone with Johnny and Ember. She looked around at Jazz and Tucker, who both looked anxious about all of the ghosts surrounding them. None moved to attack though; rather they began to dissipate with disgruntled grunts. A few gave them suspicious looks, but none moved to attack. The mood was deep and oppressive, and most simply wanted to escape it as soon as possible.

Kitty turned back to them with her hands resting on her hips. She looked as worried as the rest of them, though her tough demeanor didn't fade in the slightest. "Alright ladies, listen up."

"Ahem." Tucker coughed.

"Quiet, lady!" Kitty snapped. "Now, we're going to be nice about this." She walked up to Jazz, clearly not looking very nice at the moment. Jazz gulped and stood at attention as if facing down an army commander. "The Ghost Zone is a dangerous place. Accidents can happen if you're not careful to listen to every single word I say. Got it?"

"Geeze, Johnny doesn't see this side of you much does he?" Sam grumbled.

"What was that!?"

"Nothing, sir!" Sam saluted mockingly.

"Haha. Very funny." Kitty smirked. "Now while Johnny's gone, we're going to stay put, chill out, and not do anything. At all. I don't want to go chasing you all over the Ghost Zone like some freaking toddlers. If I wanted to be a mother I would've had a baby with some rich brat instead of getting together with Johnny."

"We're not planning to go anywhere. We couldn't even if we wanted to." Sam shot back. "There's no reason to get all snooty about this, we won't give you any trouble."

"Good to know." Kitty smiled and patted her cheek condescendingly. "Now let's all go take a rest in Ember's place. I've always wanted to see the inside of a rock star's pad." She grinned and turned to walk toward the stage. Sam now noticed there was a door underneath the stage. Behind the stage was a two-story building, almost completely hidden from a straight-on view.

"Leave it to Ember to have a stage built into her house." Sam shook her head.

"At least she knows who she is." Jazz smiled slightly. "Come on, standing in the middle of the Ghost Zone without Danny around is making me nervous." Jazz turned to walk toward the house and gestured for Sam and Tucker to follow. They walked in through the door in the bottom of the stage, moving through a small hallway into a comfortably sized living room that branched off into a handful of other rooms. Clothing and musical equipment was scattered around the room, making it look more like a bachelor pad than a woman's home.

"Wow... I could get to like her if she wasn't bent on world domination." Sam stated as she walked into the middle of the living room.

"Yeah, well, I guess we should've expected the rock star lifestyle." Jazz turned up her nose when she saw a box of ancient, mold-covered pizza sitting in the corner of the room. "Ewe..."

"Hey, check this out." Tucker walked up to a thin-screen television that completely covered one of the walls. "Small house, big TV. She sure has her priorities straight." Tucker grinned. "Where do you think she got all this stuff? For that matter, can this thing get reception in the Ghost Zone?"

"One way to find out." Sam replied as she and Jazz walked curiously up behind him. Tucker snatched the sleek, new remote control off the table and hit the power button. The massive TV roared to life and a crystal clear picture came through of a heavy metal band. The volume was enough to make the windows shudder and their teeth rattle. "Turn it down! Turn it down!"

Tucker quickly turned down the volume to a more human level. "Man, that hurt."

"Keep it down out there! I said I wanted peace!" Kitty's voice shouted from one of the back rooms.

"Yes mom!" Sam shouted back irritably. "Now, let's see what stations we've got here." She flipped through the shocking number of channels until she found a fun-looking cartoon about a little boy with big teeth and a pink hat.

"Hey, I love this show!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Nothing else on..." Sam dropped the remote on the couch. "Think we've got anything to eat around here?"

"I'll go get the cold pizza that's undoubtedly in the fridge." Jazz volunteered.

As she thought, there were four boxes of cold pizza sitting on top of each other in the fridge, so they had plenty to choose from. Unfortunately, they were all covered in sausage and pepperoni, so Sam decided she'd rather stick to water and some bread she found in the pantry. Honestly, Sam had never realized ghosts had to eat. She supposed they needed it for energy, just like anyone else. Or maybe it just made them feel 'alive' again.

It felt almost like they were back in Sam's place, sitting around lazily watching the massive television until the three of them fell asleep. Sure, they were with Jazz instead of Danny, but she was still a Fenton and that counted for something. And it made even less difference when Sam found herself drifting off into a deep sleep, her first since the long, powerful night she'd spent with Danny. The memories of it surfaced in her dreams, though she no longer needed to dream at all.

Sleep was deep and rejuvenating after the long days of running for her life and discovering just how deep her love for Danny really went. Which made it all the worse when she felt the couch shift under her body just enough to pull her out of her pleasant dreams with him back into the frightful waking world.

She opened her eyes to find that the TV had been overrun by horrible sitcoms and bad acting, while Tucker slept beside her with his arms dangling behind him over the couch and his head leaning back. To her other side was an empty couch, though Sam was sure Jazz had been there just before she fell asleep.

"Jazz?" Sam rubbed her eyes and stood up from the TV, grabbing the remote to silence the headache-inducing dialogue. She looked around again curiously until she realized that the door to the front hallway was hanging open. She pulled it open just in time to see a swish of fiery red hair vanish out the front door into the Ghost Zone. "Jazz? Where are you going?"

When she didn't get a response, Sam hurried along after her, catching the door before it could swing closed and stepping outside. There was no day or night in the Ghost Zone, so the sky remained exactly as it was hours before. At least, Sam assumed it was hours ago. She couldn't tell, really.

She found Jazz walking around the side of the stage as a shadow weaved in a gentle breeze in front of the door. Sam turned to look up, her eyes going wide when she saw Vlad Plasmeus standing on the stage. A wide grin split his face as he held out his hand to Jazz, waiting for her to approach him on the stage with a return smile. She looked happy to see him, but there was no way. There was just no way.

Sam wanted to yell, but she stopped herself, instead leaning her back against the front of the stage to listen. Her heart pounding in her ears seemed deafening, but she could still make out what they were saying.

"I thought as much, my dear." Vlad's voice was suave and cool, as if Danny hadn't left him buried under the rubble of his own mansion barely 24 hours ago. "Even with my mansion gone and my Ecto Amplifier destroyed, the little piece of me I left inside of you still holds."

"I would never leave you, my love." Jazz's voice was soft and dripping with love and affection. Sure signs that she was being controlled from outside, because Sam had never been so sickened by her in her life. "I would give you all I have to give, just to be in your presence. I love you."

"Of course, my dear. Of course." Sam could hear the grin on his face. "And we never will be apart thanks to the ectoplasm that I've planted inside of your brain. We can disappear together, away from Jack and..." Vlad seemed to hesitate at speaking ill of the woman he'd been obsessed with for the last twenty years. "Come then, my dear. The future looks bright for us... and Daniel will be out of our way soon enough."

Sam bit her lip. If she let them leave, there might be no way to find them again. Jazz could be lost forever. Jazz was like a sister to her, and Danny would be extremely disappointed if she just let them leave like this. She was no superhero, but she had to do something.

Without giving herself time to realize what a bad idea it was, Sam gripped the edge of the stage and heaved herself up onto it in a crouch. "Hey Casper! OVER HERE!" Sam closed the small gap between herself and Vlad before he even had a chance to see her coming. Her fist launched straight into his cheek, knocking him back away from Jazz to his back with a look of astonishment on his face.

Sam didn't take time to notice more, instead gripping Jazz's wrist and hauling her back to the other side of the stage. Jazz yelled in protest, but Sam ignored her and shoved her off the stage to the ground before following. Sam grabbed her around the waist and threw her into the door that led to Ember's living room, ducking into it herself and slamming it tight. Her fingers fumbled for the lock, and eventually slipped the small metal bar through the hole on the side.

"Yeah, that'll hold him off." She muttered bitterly to herself.

"What are you doing!? Let me go back to my love!" Jazz growled.

"You'll never forgive me if I do, and neither will Danny. So forget it!" Sam gripped her wrist and yanked her into the living room. By now she could hear something pounding against the front door. She was thankful that ghosts couldn't become intangible in the Ghost Zone.

"Kitty! Tucker! We've got to get outta here!" Sam shouted into the house at the top of her lungs.

"Gah! I don't know where that bra came from! Honest! I- huh?" Tucker rubbed his eyes and looked over at her.

"Forget it and run!" Sam grabbed his wrist as she charged toward one of the back rooms. Suddenly a massive explosion erupted from the front entrance and the door came hurtling through the living room to embed itself into the TV in a wild shower of blue sparks. Tucker didn't complain, though Jazz did, as they ran through the small hallway to barge into the bedroom with the queen size bed.

Kitty shot up on the bed in surprise when she heard the door slam open. She rose to her feet, her eyes flashing angrily. "What are you doing!? I said I wanted peace and quiet!"

"And Johnny told you to protect us! So get to it!" Sam and Tucker darted behind her as a powerful ecto-blast ripped the bedroom door off of its hinges, knocking it into the far wall where it shattered with a thunderous roar.

"M... me!? What do you want me to do!?" Kitty exclaimed in a panic.

"You have ghost powers! Use them!" Sam replied.

"I don't have ghost powers! I AM a ghost! There's a difference!" Kitty complained. She fell silent when Vlad's powerful, commanding form swept into the room with his white cape brushing against his heels. His blood red eyes focused on them, looking rather upset by the bruise forming on his left cheek where Sam had hit him. "Plasmeus..."

"I see my reputation precedes me." Vlad smirked. "Then you know how pointless it is to struggle. Just give me the girls, and I'll let you go."

"Vlad, help me! Help-" Jazz started to yell, but Sam clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her, clinging to her to keep her from running out from behind Kitty.

"I... I..." Kitty looked around uncertainly. "Johnny said..."

"Oh please, don't tell me you think you can win. I've destroyed ghosts a thousand times more powerful than you. Even Danny Phantom is not a match for me. What do you think you can do?" Vlad grinned.

"Kitty, please. He'll dispose of me and take Jazz somewhere he can use her... violate her. She doesn't want him, but he'll use her anyway." Sam pleaded. Kitty's fists tightened at her sides, her eyes narrowing in disdain, and Sam knew she had struck a nerve. "Please, Kitty. I know you don't want to see that any more than I do. Please..."

"Give me the girls." Vlad demanded.

"Suck an egg." Kitty launched herself forward suddenly, her fingers tightening into claws as she swiped viciously at him. Caught off guard, Vlad retreated back into the living room, raising his arms in front of him to block the claws, though they ripped through the skin of his arms.

Vlad blocked the slashes until suddenly his arm twisted around, catching her wrist in a solid block before pulling her closer, his other fist burying itself deep in her stomach. Kitty howled in pain as the blow knocked her off the floor straight into the ceiling, where she bounced off and fell flat on the floor. With a growl Kitty's claws scratched across the floor and she lurches upward again, tackling Vlad and raking her claws across his stomach.

Vlad brought his elbow down on the back of her neck, knocking her to her knees before bringing his knee up to slam into her face. Kitty fell against the back of the sofa in the living room, clutching it for balance. Vlad's hands rose toward her, glowing with powerful violet ecto-energy. His expression was deathly serious, his eyes narrowed.

"I'm taking her with me. Even if I have to go through you." Vlad stated. Suddenly a black shape veered in front of him, a single claw ripping across his chest, knocking him back away from her as the ecto-blasts faded from his hands. The shadow whirled through the room, flying back toward the entrance where it faded back into place at Johnny 13's feet.

"Stay away from my girl." Johnny growled darkly. Danny was standing behind him in his human form, avoiding using his powers any more than absolutely necessary.

"This is absurd." Vlad turned to face Johnny, a second copy of himself appearing, then out of those two Vlad's appeared two more, sneering and smirking in the middle of the living room. "Even the three of you can't defeat me."

"Hey." Another voice said from the wall near the TV. The four Vlad's whirled around, their hands glowing violet as they turned on Ember, who was facing the shattered TV and holding her guitar in both hands. She whirled around suddenly, her eyes glowing blood red as her lip curled into a snarl. "Get out of my home, dipshit!" She raised her arm and slammed her fingers down on the chords of her guitar, which roared with the force of a hurricane in a blast that swept all four of the Vlad's back away from her. They melded into one as the massive blast flung him back down the hall toward the exit, straight out to the ground outside of the building.

Jazz winced as if physically struck, grunting and falling against Sam, who was still holding onto her to keep her from going after Vlad.

"Jazz?" Sam asked worriedly, holding her up. Jazz didn't respond, but she was still breathing at least.

Johnny approached Kitty and put a hand on her shoulder, helping her steady herself on her feet. "Great job, Kitten." Johnny grinned. "I never knew you had it in you." Kitty looked at him in surprise, then smiled as her eyes shined happily. "Come on, we have to make sure he doesn't come back." He turned to leave the house with Ember, and Kitty was right on their heels. Sam wanted to follow, but she was still holding Jazz up and she was getting pretty heavy.

Sam lumped over to the couch and sat down, laying Jazz's head against the back before sitting down beside her. Her forehead was slick with sweat and she looked weaker than she had just moments ago.

"You're burning up." Sam said softly.

"What's wrong with her?" Tucker moved up behind the couch, leaning down over the couch with his elbows resting on the back.

"I don't know. It must have something to do with Vlad." Sam took one of Jazz's hands in hers. "He said something about ectoplasm in her brain linking them together." She shook her head. "Whatever he did, it looks pretty serious. And I have no idea how to fix it." They lapsed into silence, though the sound of explosions and shockwaves continued to filter in through the front door.

Sam wanted to go look, but at the same time she knew it would be a bad idea to leave Jazz alone. It wasn't her place to fight like this. Besides, Vlad was strong, but going up against Danny Phantom, Johnny 13, Kitty, and Ember McLain all at once was beyond even his power. They would win, she knew they would.

Her theory proved correct when soon the ruckus died down, and the four in question walked back into the house. Kitty was leaning against Johnny with a tired, but pleased smile on her face. Danny looked pensive and concerned, but unharmed, and Ember just looked pissed off... though that was fairly normal for her.

"We should get out of here soon." Danny said simply. He turned to Ember. "Thanks for your help, but with both Vlad and the Reaper coming after us we don't have any time to lose." Ember waved off the praise and walked across the living room, her hands cupping her hips as she looked disapprovingly at the door embedded in her wall-sized TV. "We have to get to Clockwork now more than ever."

"Clockwork?" Johnny asked.

"He's just a legend." Kitty added.

"No, he's real. And he's in the middle of the Ghost Zone. I know where, but we have to hurry. Which is why I need your wheels, Johnny." Danny said.

"You got 'em." Johnny replied.

"Johnny?" Kitty looked at him in surprise. "But why?"

"Forget it babe, it's a guy thing." Johnny replied simply.

"Puh. Sickening." Ember grumbled from the other side of the room. The others turned to look at her and she turned away from the TV to glare at Johnny. "What wouldn't we get? Some sense of male pride? I suppose you guys got some nice male bonding time while you were fixing a problem you created in the first place. If it wasn't for you the Reaper would never have come here, and neither would Plasmeus."

"You're right." Danny stepped forward. "And I'm sorry I ever came here. I never meant to put you or anyone else in danger." He looked over at Sam, who was still sitting near the unconscious form of his sister. "But I won't let anyone else suffer for my mission... and I won't give up without a fight."

"Spoken like a true ghost." Ember smirked.

"Spoken like a man." Johnny winked approvingly. Sam, Ember and Kitty all smacked themselves in the forehead in unison. Jazz would have if she were conscious. "What? What!?"

"Just stop talking." Ember walked up and pushed Johnny aside so that she could stand in front of Danny, looking at him with her arms crossed over her chest. "You may have caused what happened, but you didn't have to fix it. Most people wouldn't have, especially knowing it would just make trouble for themselves. So the way I see it, I owe you my afterlife. So the best way to pay this debt is to save your human life."

"Hold on, my bike isn't nearly big enough for seven people." Johnny pointed out.

"Don't you worry about that, creamhead." Ember replied. "I can take care of my own transportation."

"Well we'd better take care of it quickly." Danny looked at Jazz, who was still unconscious against Sam's chest. "This gets more dangerous the longer we take. We have to end it soon."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	14. Nothing Else Matters

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 14: Nothing Else Matters

Vlad Plasmeus fell to his knees in the depths of the Ghost Zone, his fists clenching on the hard, cold ground before him. His frustration knew no bounds, his hatred had never flared more brightly. He was tired of this, tired of having the life he'd envisioned for so long denied to him. All because of that one, stupid man. The man who had destroyed him and turned him into a broken, worthless being that was even less than a man.

And his Hellspawn of a son, he thought to himself. Daniel was no better than his father. He could see that now, more than ever. He was so tired... tired of waiting, tired of fighting. Time was running out fast, if he didn't get what he wanted soon it would be all over. Maddie was inaccessible to him, but Jasmine... he was already inside her mind. He just had to figure out a way to get her away from Danny. Then he could have some peace for what precious little time remained. And he could have a true heir to the empire he'd built for himself.

"Getting on in years, aren't we, Vladimir Masters?" A mocking voice asked. Vlad looked up from the ground to see a ghostly girl standing before him. Vlad had only met her a few times face-to-face, but he'd kept a close watch on her for several months in his experiments.

"The young Miss Grey." Vlad pushed himself up from the ground, climbing to his feet where his cape swept down his shoulders. "Jumped the mortal coil far too young I see. Such a pity."

"I didn't come for idle banter." Valerie waved off the statement with one hand. "My master has a message for you."

"Yes, yes, I already know time is running out." Vlad growled. "I'm doing the best I can to put my house in order. Once I can get close to her for long enough, my influence will be permanent, and she will continue my legacy of her own free will after I am gone. Once that comes to pass, I will gladly uphold my end of the bargain."

"I must admit, Vlad. I was kind of surprised when he told me." Valerie smirked. "I didn't think even you would sink so low as to pull this kind of stunt."

"Given that you have sworn your soul to a ghost whom you call master, I don't think you are in a position to accuse anyone of sinking too low." Vlad grinned. "How does it feel, becoming everything you ever fought against? It feels liberating, doesn't it?"

"Shut up." Valerie growled. "I'm not like those other ghosts. I'm fighting to exterminate their kind. And yours."

"Is that what you think he does?" Vlad laughed derisively. "Sooner or later he will command you to destroy someone who is not a ghost. You can count on that, Miss Grey." Vlad slowly started to walk around her, seeing the anger flaring in her blood red eyes. "And when he does, will you be ready to take the life of an innocent human? To have real, human blood on your hands?" He leaned in close behind her, whispering into her ear. "Will you enjoy it?"

"I said shut up!" Valerie shoved him away violently, whirling to face him. "I would destroy ALL ghosts if I could! And he gives me the power to do that! But I would never, ever, kill a human!"

"I sincerely hope your master understands that, Miss Grey. Or else I fear your afterlife may not last too much longer." Vlad shrugged his shoulders, as if uncaring.

Valerie shook her head as if brushing away his words. "My master won't wait a second longer than your agreement allows. Even if you're not ready when the time comes, he will come for you."

"I will be ready, and so will she." Vlad turned away from her with a flourish of his cape. "Nothing else matters to me now but ensuring a new generation to take over all that I've worked so hard to build."

"I hope you are ready. Because even though my afterlife MAY not last much longer... yours definitely won't." Valerie grinned when Vlad didn't fire back with a response, and turned to leave.

Time was running out for him. He had to get to Jazz soon to ensure his legacy... because his future was about to fade into nothing.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	15. The Great Beyond

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 15: The Great Beyond

Johnny 13's motorcycle roared through the depths of the Ghost Zone, flying through the open space as if riding on the ectoplasm energy that flowed throughout the ethereal zone. Behind its driver sat Sam, holding Jazz's still unconscious form in her arms while her legs gripped the motorcycle for balance. Tucker sat behind her, and Kitty brought up the rear to make sure they didn't lose anybody on the way. They weren't on 'land' anymore, and losing someone would be rather bad for them.

Danny found himself riding with Ember, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding on for dear life. Ember was standing on the face of her guitar as though on a surfboard riding over 20 feet above the motorcycle. She was tethered to Johnny's bike by a long guitar wire that was wrapped around the rear axle and tied tightly to Ember's gloved arm, pulling them along behind it like a parasail.

"Told you I could pull my own weight on this little 'mission' of yours." Ember grinned and looked over her shoulder to see Danny looking down at the motorcycle. "You got something on your mind?"

Danny looked up at her eyes with a droll look on his face. "What ISN'T on my mind? Everything's on my mind. What's wrong with Jazz? How do we stop Vlad? What do we do if Valerie shows up? Can even Clockwork help us stop the Reaper? WILL he help if he can? Have I made a mistake with Sam?"

"You need to take it easy." Ember advised. "What's the point of saving yourself from the Reaper if you give yourself a heart attack from worrying so much?"

"How can you be so calm? I mean... I never thought about it before, but you're dead."

"You noticed, huh?"

"I mean how can you stand it?" Danny shook his head. "What's it like? Every time I try to think about it it's like I can't even begin to imagine. How can you be so happy being nothing but a ghost? You can't have kids, you can't do anything with yourself... you're just there with no future." With a sigh Danny looked down at those riding the motorcycle, his eyes settling on Sam. "Can you even love?"

"Who said I was happy? If I was happy would I want so badly to get out of this Godforsaken dimension and get back to the world where I can feel alive again? No." Ember replied. "You're right, being a ghost is like living the same day over and over again for the rest of eternity. Guess that's why so many ghosts are angry." She shrugged. "But y'know, you do get used to it."

"Used to it?" Danny asked.

"Like anything I guess. Live in the dark long enough, and you forget what the light looks like." Ember shrugged again. Danny gave her a curious look, then sighed and leaned his cheek against her back tiredly. They had been riding for two hours already, and he'd been standing on his feet the whole time. His legs were starting to hurt, especially the leg where the wound had healed enough to walk on, but was now throbbing with the constant strain.

The good news was they had to be approaching Clockwork's domain. Danny was sure of it. They were moving at such a rapid pace there was no way it could be far off. But another ten minutes passed and there was still no sign of it. Twenty minutes, thirty minutes, still nothing. After another hour Danny was growing frustrated. He knew where it was; he had memorized the route weeks ago. From Ember's domain, head this direction.

So where the heck was it?

After ten more minutes Johnny signaled back to Ember that they were going to be stopping soon, and turned his bike to head for the nearest patch of land he could find. It was a small expanse of land floating by itself in the middle of the ectoplasm. It was big enough for a comfortably sized house, so they were all able to stand and stretch their legs after the long ride.

As Ember touched her guitar down behind the motorcycle, Danny was glad to see Jazz was awake and standing up on her own, though she still looked tired.

"Okay kid, I'm not one to get impatient easily, but where the heck is this place?" Johnny demanded.

"I don't know. It should be here." Danny shrugged helplessly. "I know it should."

"Maybe we should've made a left at Albuquerque." Tucker suggested.

"Can it, Tuck." Sam pushed him lightly and walked up to Danny with Jazz in tow. Now that Danny looked, Jazz was holding Sam's hand tightly to keep herself upright. Probably refusing to show much weakness in front of Danny. "If Danny says it's here, it's got to be here. It's just... I don't know, hiding."

"A hiding building?" Ember scoffed. "This is the Ghost Zone, not the 'childish fantasies' zone."

"Maybe if we wish hard enough, it'll appear." Kitty mocked.

"Everybody clap your hands and think happy thoughts!" Johnny started clapping, with Ember and Kitty following suit in a moment.

"Shut up!" Jazz shouted. The clapping ceased immediately. Jazz was clutching Sam's hand because she was barely able to stand, and was sweating more than seemed natural for the cool air of the Ghost Zone while her breath came in heavy gasps. But she still spoke with a strong, authoritative voice. "From what Danny says, this 'Clockwork' is no normal ghost. And none of you were even sure he exists. It makes sense that not just anybody could float up and knock on his door."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Tucker asked, looking a bit guilty about his earlier joke.

"Danny, how did you find him before?" Jazz asked.

Danny thought about it for a few moments. "Well, the first time we saw him it was an accident. Then when I came to see him again, I just sort of flew here. Just like any normal building in the Ghost Zone."

"I don't see any buildings around here." Johnny said.

"Then maybe it's time for Danny to go alone." Jazz said. Danny and Sam both opened their mouths to complain, but Jazz stopped them with a raised hand. "There must be something about Danny that allows him to reach this place where no other ghosts can. It's the only explanation."

"I'll go with him then." Sam said immediately.

"No." Danny said. When Sam whirled on him he stopped her complaint with a gentle kiss on her lips that startled her into silence. "I'll be safe with Clockwork..." He leaned in close to whisper. "But I need you to watch Jazz. Please."

"Okay." Sam nodded. "But don't you dare try to take off without us when you're done." She warned him.

"Don't worry. I learned my lesson about that." Danny smiled and moved away from her. "You all take a breather for a bit, I'll be back as soon as I can." Danny's body shifted in a flash of light into his ghostly form and he lifted from the landmass, turning to fly quickly away from the land before the Reaper could pick up on his position and find his friends.

He flew back the way he came, keeping a sharp eye out as he passed through the doors that floated serenely through every inch of the Ghost Zone. It didn't take long before the familiar, massive palace materialized out of the Ghost Zone, standing tall as the large grandfather clock began to chime from one side. The gears in the tower continued to turn, driving the hands on the clock around at a steady pace.

Danny floated down to the front of the tower, letting his ghost form fade back into his normal body the second he touched down so he wouldn't call too much attention to himself. He approached the massive double-doors on the front of the castle, pushing them open and walking into Clockwork's domicile. Statues of various figures stood along the walls, including one familiar robed figure holding a scythe in a pair of skeletal hands. This one seemed to watch him as he walked through the hallway.

"Welcome once again." Clockwork's voice drew Danny's attention away from the statues into the next room, where Clockwork seemed to be watching a large screen that hovered in the air before him. It showed Danny himself, fighting various ghosts in the recent past. As Danny watched, Clockwork's body shifted from large and muscular to that of a tiny child barely more than a baby. "It's about time you reached my domain."

"I assume you know what's been happening." Danny walked up behind him. As Clockwork turned to face him the child was replaced by a wizened old man, hunched over the staff that he held tight in one hand.

"Of course I know." The screen behind him shifted to show a still picture of Danny huddled on the floor of his basement while the Reaper hovered in front of him. "It is difficult not to notice something that could alter the world for the rest of time."

"Alter the world?" Danny blinked in surprise. "Me?"

"Realize it or not, your fate has been tied to the fate of the human world ever since the accident that created you." Clockwork told him. Danny would have thought he was joking if it wasn't for the deathly serious tone he used. "And that destiny is coming to pass even as we speak. Your actions could save the world as you now know it."

"I don't get it. The Reaper was the first person ever to die, right? He's been here since the beginning. People die all the time, why would my life be any more important than Johnny's? Or Ember's?"

"He was not the first man to die. He is the creator of the Ghost Zone." This caught Danny's attention and left him completely speechless, unable to do more than look to the childish face of the most powerful ghost he knew for more information.

"Before the Ghost Zone was created, a human who died blinked out of this dimension. Where they went, it was impossible to know, even for us. Nothing the humans could say or do could change it. A few of us existed outside of that flow, outside of that fate, and watched as the humans grieved at their eternal loss. It broke our hearts each time it happened. But still we did nothing.

Until one day we watched as a young child grew sick, a girl no older than three years of age. Her parents watched helpless to stop it, and there was little anyone could do. Her young life would soon be snuffed out just like any other. My good friend, a spirit named Azrael, took pity on the child, and upon her death, caught up her spiritual essence into a façade of her mortal form to give her eternal life. He attempted to return her to the family that had begun to grieve, but they feared the child's return and drove her away.

It was then that Azrael took into himself the essence of all spirits, the force you call Ectoplasm, and condensed it into a world that existed outside of the human consciousness. It was his hope that here, in the Ghost Zone, the spirits of the dead could continue their lives among others of their own kind without sorrow or fear. In the beginning he took only those whose lives were lived with good intentions... but here his power was absolute. And we all know what happens when any being is given absolute power.

In time he began to take more and more spirits, until all humans were granted the gift of spiritual life. And it was that he also stopped seeing them as lost souls to be grieved over... but minions in a kingdom of his own design. He did not even see that the beings he brought here were not alive. They were shadows of who they used to be, not people who could live and feel and grow. He could not see... or he refused to see.

Since then he has been twisted into a vessel of arrogance who believes the human world is flawed, and the world he created here, the Ghost Zone, is perfection that all humans should be made to conform to."

"All humans conform... he wants to kill everyone in the world?" Danny asked in awe.

"He does." Clockwork nodded. "But his power is spent here, maintaining the delicate balance of the Ghost Zone. It is because of this that a ghost's power is drained greatly when they leave the Ghost Zone, all except for a handful of special exceptions. I am not a true ghost, so my power remains." His strong, powerful form turned a blood red gaze on Danny. "And your power remains as well, fed by the force Azrael cannot tap into. The power of life. If he absorbs you as you are now, he will be able to bring all of his power to bear in the human world."

"But... he hasn't tried to absorb me." Danny shook his head in confusion. "He's been trying to kill me and turn me into a full ghost."

"Because he cannot take these things by force without killing the spirit he tries to take. And he has already been promised the essence of another whose power is drawn from the same source as your own." Clockwork told him. Danny paused at that, but only for a few moments before the realization dawned on him.

"Vlad... Vlad has promised his body and ghost powers to Azrael, in exchange for the right to keep on living." Danny said suddenly. "That's why Vlad is still alive so long after getting his ghost powers! He struck a deal!"

"Very good, Daniel." Clockwork's wizened old form nodded gravely. "I doubt even he realizes what it is that Azrael intends. But if Vlad's powers become his, the world as we know it will be reduced to ash and replaced by a second Ghost Zone. Everyone, man, woman, and child, will become spiritual shadows of the people they once were. There will be no life left."

"How do I stop it? I'm just one kid." Danny said. "I've tried fighting this thing before, nothing I tried worked. He's too powerful."

"You don't have to destroy him, Daniel. Merely deny him his prize." Clockwork said. Danny had a thought about what that would mean, but he didn't like it one bit.

"Telling a tale to the children of the world, are we Chronos?" A familiar voice spoke in Danny's mind, though he didn't feel the bitter cold that usually accompanied his presence. Danny whirled as the Reaper floated into view; its cloak billowing in a nonexistent wind as both hands clutched the scythe close. "It's quite rude to talk about others behind their back."

"I prefer Clockwork. It's a much warmer name." Clockwork replied smoothly.

"The child's time has come, Chronos. And you are sworn not to break the laws of time, laws which you helped craft. You know it as well as I do. Give him to me."

"It's a funny thing, time." Clockwork replied with the hint of a smirk on his face. "It often flows where you least expect." His eyes flicked into the next room, which was dark except for a single light that shined down on a Fenton Thermos placed on a pedestal with the cap closed tightly. Suddenly he raised his staff, and with a flash he, the palace, and the Reaper were all gone, leaving Danny floating in the Ghost Zone in his ghostly form.

:"Whoa, what the...?" Danny shook his head in confusion, whirling to look around at the suddenly empty space of the Ghost Zone. Danny's heart began to slow to a steadier rhythm as he came to grips with what he'd just learned. Vlad was about to make the biggest mistake of his life, a mistake that would bring an end to the world as they knew it. And he thought there was enough pressure worrying about his OWN life.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	16. Sleeping Beauty on the Balcony

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 16: Sleeping Beauty on the Balcony

"So what do we do now?" Tucker asked solemnly after Danny had reached the land where they waited and explained everything. The mood was unusually somber and quiet, even Ember seemed to be in a reflecting mood. Jazz was sitting on the ground weakly, apparently unable to recover any more than she had already. Still she didn't let herself become a damsel to be protected, keeping herself involved and up to date on the situation at hand.

"It seems simple really." Ember looked down at Jazz. "Plasmeus wants the girl here. And we have her. We set a trap."

"You want to use my sister as bait!?" Danny exclaimed.

"He's going to come for her regardless." Ember replied coolly. "Either we prepare or we sit around doing nothing." Danny began to complain again, but Jazz interrupted him.

"She's right, Danny. He seems to want me... and we need him." Jazz shook her head. Sam must have explained what happened where Danny found himself unable. She was taking it pretty well. Not that Danny expected any less from his strong-willed sister. "I hope we can explain to him what's happening and get his cooperation, but if we can't..."

"We take him down." Ember finished.

"You're still willing to help, Ember?" Danny asked in surprise. "But..."

"Let's not go there. I got my own reasons for that I do and I don't need to explain them to you." Ember told him.

"So it's settled. We wait somewhere for Vlad to find us, and we make sure the Reaper won't be taking his powers any time soon." Johnny punched one fist into an open palm. "One way or another."

"I suggest we go back to Ember's place for this. Vlad probably thinks we're still there, and since he thinks Ember's in oblivion the Reaper won't bother going back there." Jazz suggested.

So it was decided. Against all of Danny's complaints, the others made preparations to leave for Ember's place to bait the trap. Danny refused to help, standing aside and fuming until Sam approached from behind to console him.

"I know you're worried about her, but she's almost as strong as you are Danny." Sam smiled comfortingly. "If not stronger, in some ways." It seemed like he should be insulted, but Danny knew deep down that it was true.

So they finished their preparations and proceeded to cross the vast distances of the Ghost Zone. Danny once again flew with Ember, tethered to Johnny's bike by a long string of piano wire. He didn't like any of this at all. Sure, he'd dealt with some pretty big problems in his day. Pariah Dark, Vlad Plasmeus, his own evil self from the future... but this was the guy who created the Ghost Zone. If what Clockwork said was true, and it always was, if they failed the world would be destroyed. There was no 'or' or 'but', it was over.

And what of Danny himself? Even if they succeeded they hadn't found a way to stop him from dying and being turned into a full ghost, or worse, simply vaporized into oblivion. Whether he succeeded in saving the world or not, Danny seemed doomed to die. But he refused to let that shake his resolve in this. Even if he wouldn't do it for himself, he would do it for Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and his parents. For everyone who had someone to love while they were still capable of truly feeling it.

They reached Ember's home several hours later. It looked just how they'd left it, much to Ember's irritation. The door remained embedded in the TV and half of the doors in the house had been blown off, but they didn't have time to worry about that right now. They had to prepare for Vlad's appearance and how they would deal with him. Leave it to Jazz to have spent their travel time coming up with a plan.

Jazz snuggled into the king sized bed on the small second story of Ember's home, which consisted of a single bedroom with a tinted window that overlooked the stage out front. "There's really only one way to do this." Jazz told the gathered crowd. "I'm going to have to go to sleep, he'll think I'm most vulnerable that way. And each of you will take turns watching over me. I won't be leaving, at all. If I wake up and try to leave, stop me. No matter what I do, no matter what I say, you have to stop me." She gulped, her nervousness showing on her face for the first time. "If I try to leave... it'll mean he's taken over my head again."

Danny stepped forward immediately. "We'll take one hour shifts, nobody leave her alone for even a second. For now, I'll take the first shift. The rest of you can argue among yourselves about who's next."

"Right." The others all nodded. They turned to file out of the room, shooting Danny and Jazz waves or smiled as they left down the flight of stairs that led down to the main building. Sam and Tucker approached him to give him their reassurances before following after the three ghosts.

Danny grabbed a chair from a nearby desk that was littered with sheets upon sheets of musical notation and pulled it up next to the bed to sit down. Jazz took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to put their plan into motion by falling asleep. Danny cold see that she was still awake though. Her breathing was too heavy, and one arm kept rising to rub the front of her head.

Danny tried to imagine what she would look like as a ghost. He couldn't though, he just kept seeing her as she is now. Lying on the large bed with her chest slowly rising and falling as the green light of the Ghost Zone filtered in through the window, framing her body in a sheet of brilliant coalescing energy. He didn't ever want to see her as a ghost, not until she was good and ready to become one. That went for Jazz, Sam, his parents, and everyone he knew from school.

"Danny?" Danny's eyes rose up to Jazz's face, snapping out of his internal reverie. Jazz was looking at him with a solemn expression on her face. "Things have gotten a bit out of control, haven't they?"

"I'm not sure I ever had much control." Danny responded. "Just running here and there on wild ideas and theories."

"And its come to this." Jazz stated simply. She sat up in the bed, letting the blanket fall off of her chest as she ran a hand over her sweaty head. "Danny, I have to admit I... I'm scared. I don't know what he plans to do with me."

"It doesn't matter. We won't let him do anything to you." Danny reassured her with a hand on his shoulder. His breath caught in his throat when she leaned over the side of the bed, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. "Jazz, come on, you can handle this. I know you can."

"Danny, if it comes down to it... if it looks like he's going to take me and take my mind away from me..." Jazz closed her eyes with her chin resting on his shoulder. "Just don't let him take me. Whatever you have to do, don't let him take me. Please promise me."

"Jazz, I-" Danny began before he was interrupted.

"Promise me!" Jazz pulled back and stared at him with a red face streaked with trickling tears, her hands clutching his shoulders in desperation. "I can stand the thought of being taken hostage. I can stand the thought of dying. But I just can't stand the thought of having my mind, everything I am, taken away from me. I don't want to become someone else Danny, I don't want to become someone evil. I'd rather die!"

"Jazz..." Danny gulped, unable to say no to those wide, pleading eyes. He'd never seen his sister like this before. It freaked him out, and made him realize for the first time just how big this situation was. If everyone knew what Jazz knew, would they be reacting the same way?

"O... okay..." Danny gulped back tears of his own and pulled her into a hug of his own, running his hands over the back of her head. "I promise. Vlad won't take you. He won't ever take you." He told her.

"Thank you..." Jazz nodded into his shoulder. The sound of Tucker clearing his throat behind Danny made them separate and look back at Danny's old friend, who had a gentle smile on his face.

"You go rest, Danny. I'll take it from here." Tucker told him.

"Get some rest, Jazz. I'll be ready to stop him in a heartbeat." Danny placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and pushed her down on the bed. Jazz gulped against her tears and laid back on the bed as Danny turned to leave, giving Tucker a thankful smile and a "thank you" before leaving the room.

With one hand wiping at his red eyes, Danny made his way down the steps to the first floor of Ember's home. Ember, Johnny, and Kitty were in the living room talking in relaxed tones. Danny didn't see Sam anywhere, but there was only one exit left that had a door on it. Without saying anything to the ghosts, Danny approached the door and pushed it open.

Sam rolled over to look at him from the bed, her eyes tired but suddenly filled with concern when they saw him. Danny closed the door behind him and approached the bed. Without a word Sam opened her arms to him and allowed him to crawl on the bed with her, burying his tear-filled eyes in her chest while her hands ran through his pitch-black hair. Danny closed his eyes, feeling comforted by her soft embrace. It seemed strange that out of all the chaotic emotions that had flared up in him over the last few days, he would also find a sort of peace right where he didn't expect it.

"You alright, Danny?" Sam asked softly.

"I don't know." Danny looked up at her, resting his chin on her chest while his eyes stared into hers. "I don't know anything. Even if we keep this guy from absorbing Vlad and save the world... Clockwork never told me how to save myself. He'll still take me. He'll still kill me."

"I won't let that happen, I've told you that so many times by now." Sam smiled slightly. "How many more times do I have to say it before you believe me?" Danny sighed and closed his eyes, snuggling his cheek against her chest. Sam's arms wrapped around him and she leaned her head back on the pillow. "Sometimes we don't know what's going to happen Danny, but we still believe it'll work out for the best in the end. We have to, or living at all just seems pointless."

"Words of optimism from you?" Danny mumbled into her chest.

"Well, I have new reasons to be optimistic lately." Sam squeezed him a bit tighter. "You've given me more than enough reasons to look on the bright side."

"But if we're not careful, all of those reasons are going to be ripped away from us. I have no idea how long it'll be before the Reaper goes after Vlad. It could be today, it could be tomorrow, or fifty years from now. When it happens, everything that we can feel as real people will be lost. We'll both just be memories..."

"If we become memories..." Sam put her hands on the sides of Danny's face and pulled his head up to look her in the eyes again. "Then there are no other moments in time that I would rather remember forever."

"Sam..." Danny smiled. "You're getting mushy."

"I blame you." Sam smiled back. She pulled Danny up to give him a tender kiss, closing her eyes as their lips touched. Danny could feel the warmth of her body against his as she shifted slightly underneath him, her fingers sliding up his back to lightly touch the back of his shoulders.

The door slamming open startled them both so much that the kiss broke instantly and they turned to look toward the door. Ember seemed unphased by the compromising position she caught them in, instead turning the shock against them when she said- "The girl is gone."

"What!?" Danny was on his feet instantly, Sam standing right beside him with equal speed. They rushed out of the bedroom and charged up the stairs, where they found Kitty standing and facing the window, which now hung open with neither Tucker nor Jazz anywhere in sight.

"What the Hell!? Where is she!?" Danny exclaimed.

"If we knew that she wouldn't be gone." Ember retorted dryly. Danny approached the window, feeling a sense of shock. It wasn't possible... if Vlad had tried to come through the window, Tucker would have yelled and alerted someone. Besides, it was locked from the inside and ghosts couldn't phase through ghostly matter in the Ghost Zone. Did Tucker let Jazz climb out on her own? Then where was Tucker?

"Look who I found." Johnny's voice said from the door. Danny, Ember, and Kitty whirled to see Tucker dangling from one of Johnny's fists like a stray puppy.

"Danny, I'm so sorry! Really!" Tucker exclaimed.

"What happened here, Tuck?" Danny asked.

"I just went outside for a breath of fresh air. I didn't know he was there, and he... he Overshadowed me. I couldn't fight him Danny, I'm so sorry."

"Overshadowed..." Danny's expression went blank as he absorbed this new information. Of course... Tucker had showed up in the room well before the hour for Danny's shift had ended. And Danny hadn't even thought about it.

Danny turned away from him numbly and approached the window, leaning his hands against the windowsill as his stomach began doing cartwheels. It had been so fast and easy for him. Overshadow Tucker, relieve Danny of his watch, and sneak out the window with Jazz under his control. And none of them had seen it coming. Jazz had been counting on him... oh man he'd messed up this time. Because he'd wanted so badly to be close to Sam again...

"Danny?" Sam walked up behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders. "What do we do now?"

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't know."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	17. Show Me Love

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 17: Show Me Love (WARNING: Sexual Content, Reader Be Advised)

Was this a dream? Was it something happening in her worst nightmares? Or was it reality? Jazz couldn't tell anymore. It was as if she'd been plunged into a dream world. She couldn't even think conscious thoughts, let alone move to discover where she was. She could only lie back as a pair of powerful hands pushed her bare back down on a thick, soft mattress. The hands gripped her bare shoulders, holding her against the bed though she didn't think to struggle.

She could vaguely feel someone on top of her in the very back of her mind. Touching her, caressing her, holding her. She felt her own body moving as well, as if of its own volition. She didn't feel anything. No sickness or revulsion, nor pleasure or happiness. Her mind was oddly numb, and getting fuzzier by the moment as she looked up into a pair of loving and gentle eyes.

She could feel him inside of her. Inside her body, and inside her mind. She was being invaded in every possible way. Something was churning in the depths of her mind, digging and shifting into it, pushing her thoughts away from each other. Soon all conscious thought was gone, but was soon replaced with other thoughts, strange and new. She couldn't tell what they were, but it was clear they weren't the ones she'd had before.

Soon her mind cleared enough to feel a body lying on top of hers, no longer moving or touching, but simply lying against her. The sweat from their bodies mingled and dripped to the mattress she was lying against, leaving no doubt what had been happening earlier. She was sure she'd never imagined anything like this before. She knew somewhere in the back of her mind how she should react, how she should feel.

And yet... she felt content.

A smile crept onto her lips and she found herself wrapping her arms around a pair of broad, strong shoulders. She felt him stir and his eyes moved up to hers, looking surprised for just a moment before his smile spread the entire length of his face. Jazz smiled back lovingly, running her hands across his back.

"I was just in time..." Vlad told her in a hushed whisper, running a hand across her cheek. "You will carry on my legacy..."

"Are you going somewhere, my love?" Jazz asked worriedly.

"I'm afraid I must my dear, very soon." Vlad told her. "But with your love, I know I will never truly die."

"You have it always." Jazz smiled up at him.

Vlad took one of her hands in his own and slid it down her body to her abdomen, letting it rest over her stomach. "And let this child carry into the future everything I have strived to build."

"Child? Oh, I would love to have your child... but I have no money or way to support it..." Jazz mused.

Vlad laughed. "My dearest, you don't remember much of the last several hours, do you? Miss Jasmine Masters..." He took her hand and gently lifted her off the mattress, leading her to a grand balcony, which looked out on an oceanfront house that faced the rising sun. "This, and everything I've ever created for myself, all belongs to you now. I give it freely without reservation, because I know my legacy is safe with you."

"Always, my love." Jazz pouted slightly. "I just wish we had more time..."

"I know, my dear. Me too." Vlad wrapped one arm around her shoulders, looking out at the rising sun. "This is my last sunrise... but thanks to you, I'll be able to go with a clear mind for the first time in my life. Thank you." He took her hands and leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips before stepping back away from her. As she watched his body flashed with a black light and his ghostly side took over. His wicked red eyes looked down at her, though they no longer seemed so wicked.

"So soon...?" Jazz put her hands together in front of her chest.

"I'm afraid so. Take care of my child, and everything I created. And above all, remember to enjoy your life, my dear. It may pass by faster than you can ever imagine." Vlad smiled slightly and lifted off from the balcony, floating into the sky before suddenly vanishing from her sight.

Jazz walked up to the balcony, looking around for any sign of her love, but couldn't see him anywhere. With a dejected sigh she leaned down against the rail in front of her, resting her chin against it and watching the morning sun slowly rise up over the shining ocean. She loved him deeply... something she was sure she'd never felt before. But it was there now, and it was undeniable.

Still, she kept her sharp, intelligent mind. She was sure her parents wouldn't approve when they found out about this, and neither would Danny. But she refused to let them get in the way of her new life. Vlad had entrusted her with this, and she would not let him down. So she stood from the balcony rail and turned to head inside, first to seek some clothing and then to chart out a course for the rest of her life as the caretaker of Vlad Masters' powerful legacy.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	18. Mama Said

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 18: Mama Said

Danny was sitting in Ember's living room, lying back and staring at the ceiling blankly as Sam fanned him with a paper fan she'd found in the assorted piles of junk scattered around the house. Ember was leaning against the wall near the TV strumming random chords on her guitar while Johnny, Kitty, and Tucker amused themselves by trying to watch TV, which miraculously still worked despite the door embedded in it. It showed nothing but snow, but they swore they could make out pictures.

"It's over." Danny mumbled. "Vlad's mansion is destroyed, he can't go back there if he wants to. I have no idea where he would go now. He'll hand himself over to Azrael, and then boom, just like that every human in both worlds is doomed to become a ghost." He groaned and put a hand to his forehead. "And Jazz, oh man how could I fail her so bad? She begged me not to let this happen. BEGGED me. Said she would rather die..."

"It's okay Danny... none of us saw it coming. I guess it was just too obvious." Sam smiled comfortingly. "But that doesn't mean it's over. We still have time, because we're not ghosts YET." She looked up. "Well, me and Tucker aren't." She looked down at Danny again. "And as long as the end hasn't come, then there's still time to do some good, right?"

"More optimism?" Danny asked.

"I'm trying to be comforting here!" Sam shouted in exasperation.

"You know, if you want to find someone, why don't you ask Ember?" Kitty left the guessing-game on the other side of the room to approach Ember with a wicked grin. "She could find you anyone you want, couldn't you Ember?" She elbowed the musical ghost in the stomach with a wink.

"Not anymore." Ember looked away pointedly.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked.

"Nothing!" Ember snapped back.

"She and Skulker were an item for about a week." Kitty explained with a grin.

"Skulker?" Sam and Danny both turned their eyes on Ember.

"Yeah, what of it?" ember demanded. "So the jerk decided to 'hunt' me and then when he 'got' me ditched me for other 'prey'. Who cares? I sure don't. Why should I care? He was just a cold jerk anyway. And he didn't even have a p-"

Sam interrupted. "And we're all very sorry for all of that, but you know, if anyone could track down Vlad, it would be Skulker. Hunting ghosts is what he does, and he always seems to be able to find Danny wherever he goes. Do you think you could give him a call for us?"

"Absolutely NOT!" Ember shouted, her eyes flaring up angrily. "What makes you think I'd give him the satisfaction of having me call him!? He'll think I'm some heartbroken, desperate floozy! I am not! I am Ember McClain, Goddess of music and a woman in charge!"

"But you're the only one of us he might listen to, and it's the only lead we've got to find Vlad." Sam complained.

Danny put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her aside slowly as he climbed up from the couch to approach Ember. When he reached her he turned his head upward to look her straight in the eyes.

"My sister is being held against her will, and from the sound of it Vlad is probably twisting and violating her in ways too horrible to mention. And you're going to let it happen because you're too proud to call your ex? You said you owed me your afterlife, and now I'm calling out that debt, Ember. Get Skulker on my side! NOW!" His final word came out as a furious scream, drawing looks of astonishment from everyone else in the room alongside a deep, tense silence.

Ember's face blushed blue, her eyes narrowing and the flames of her hair flaring almost up to the ceiling in her anger. Her lips curled into a snarl and her fingers drew back into fists, but she refrained from launching an attack on the smaller boy. At last she let her fists relax.

When she spoke it was through clenched teeth in a deep, frightful hiss. "Fine. But don't you ever take that tone with me again." She poked one finger roughly into his chest. Danny stepped back slightly, but when he didn't back down Ember turned away from him into one of the first-story bedrooms.

Kitty coughed nervously and walked up to him. "Geeze Danny. You could've probably talked her into it."

"We don't have time for that! Does nobody else see what's at stake here!? NOBODY!?" Danny whirled on them. "EVERYTHING is at stake here! This is my older self times five billion! This is every living person on Earth! This is my sister! My parents! EVERYONE'S families! Everyone!"

"Danny, calm down!" Sam grabbed him from behind, but he stunned everyone yet again by shrugging her off.

"Later, Sam. We have more important things to do." Danny looked back at the bedroom as Ember emerged with a sour look on her face.

"Alright, he's on his way." Ember said. "What's the plan?"

"We find Vlad, and put an end to him." Danny said.

Danny spent the next 30 minutes sitting outside on Ember's stage, while the others, including Sam, waited inside the building. He knew he wasn't acting like himself, but doing that was what had made him fail Jazz. He'd wanted to be with Sam, and his first instinct was to always trust Tucker. Both of those had cost him his sister. He would not fail her again; he would find her and save her no matter what it took. He would save her and the rest of the world.

"It was quite a surprise when she told me, whelp." A hollow, metallic voice said from behind him as the sound of a jetpack faded, replaced by the sound of a pair of thick metal boots slamming into the stage. Danny turned his head idly to look at Skulker out of the corner of his eyes. "You, calling me for help. It was such a shock I couldn't help but hear what you wanted before laughing at you."

"I need you to help me track down Vlad Plasmeus." Danny pushed himself up to his feet, turning to face the massive hunter without hesitation.

"Do you have any idea why I should do that?" Skulker smirked. "And why I shouldn't just take your pelt right now?"

"Maybe I do." Danny clenched his fists. Skulker blinked, and in a moment he found himself embedded in the back stage wall, Danny's ghostly form approaching him with glowing green eyes and fists. "I don't have time to do this the right way anymore, the Earth's hours are numbered now, and I won't let them run out. And I will not leave Jazz in Vlad's hands any longer than absolutely necessary." Danny stopped short in front of him, pointing his palm straight at Skulker's chest. "I don't like you, and you don't like me, but we can either strike a deal or I can MAKE you help me."

"How would you do that?" Skulker smirked.

"The Reaper is after me, and once he gets to me I'm going to have nothing left to do but hunt YOU for the rest of Eternity!" Danny retorted. Skulker narrowed his eyes and lowered his head slightly.

"It wasn't all that long ago when another ghost-hybrid broke into the Ghost Zone making similar demands." Skulker growled. Danny didn't respond as Skulker climbed to his feet, his joints whirring with every movement. "Very well, whelp. I'll find him by myself, and come back to tell you where he is."

"Not here." Danny told him. "We'll meet back again at Pariah's Keep in three hours, if that's enough time."

"More than enough." Skulker's mechanical wings spread out to the side and ignited, sending the ghost flying off into the depths of the Ghost Zone. Danny watched him go, then turned to head back to the edge of the stage. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Sam watching him with a strange expression on her face. He had no idea what it was, but it did not look positive.

"I do not like this new attitude Danny." Sam said simply. "It's like you've become a totally different person over the last few hours."

"I've had to reevaluate a couple of priorities." Danny replied.

"Being a good person isn't a high priority?" Sam asked.

"Compared to protecting those close to me? It doesn't compare." Danny moved across the stage to approach her, but Sam stepped back before he could touch her. "What do you want me to do? Even with Ember's influence, Skulker would never help me under normal circumstances." Danny tried to explain, but Sam maintained her distance, glaring at him with a disappointed gaze.

Danny hung his arms at his sides and moved past her, dropping to the ground and approaching Johnny's motorcycle near the right side of the stage.

"I guess you're going to take off by yourself like some lone wolf vigilante hero." Sam dropped down from the stage and followed him up to the motorcycle. Danny climbed on and she moved in front of it. "You're taking off alone, and you won't let anyone else help you because you're so darn-"

"Are you getting on or not?" Danny asked suddenly. Sam was startled into sudden silence, the breath catching in her throat. "Tucker would be better off here, he's even less fit for this kind of constant travel than I am. Ember's fulfilled her debt as far as I'm concerned. And I already owe Johnny and Kitty more than I have time to repay. There's no reason to ask any of them to risk oblivion. But I don't think I could do this without you."

"Danny..." Sam smiled slightly, any further protests fading into silence. "You had me scared for a minute."

"Sorry. Now seriously, let's get a move on. The Reaper is probably halfway here by now." Danny twisted the key Johnny left in the ignition and revved up the engine like he'd seen in so many movies. Sam nodded and scrambled to climb on the back of the bike behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her chin against his shoulder. The engines let out a powerful roar as the tires slashed at the Earth for a few seconds before taking off across the landmass of Ember's domain.

"Hey! HEY! THAT'S MY BIKE! YOU MOTHERFU-" The rest of Johnny's furious screams were lost to the wind.

The bike charged across the ground, Danny's eyes quickly scanning the controls in front of them. He couldn't see any way to make it fly. How did Johnny do it so much? He had to figure it out quickly, the edge of the landmass was coming up in front of them at a frightening pace. Danny cast a frantic glance back at Sam, but she just shrugged back moments before the bike hurtled off the edge of the landmass.

The bike continued to ride in a forward motion, carrying them across the open space just like it had the land. With a sigh of relief Danny let his ghost mode fade out of sight, convinced that Valerie and the Reaper would know he was no longer hiding out at Ember's and leave the others alone.

"Where do we go now?" Sam asked. "Do we go straight to Pariah's Keep?"

"No. We have some time to kill." Danny shook his head. "I think it's time to finally stop being so stupid. Time to do what I should have done last time I was there." Danny pulled at the bike's handles, turning the bike to head straight back toward the Fenton Portal, glowing brightly in the distance and rapidly approaching. He felt Sam's hands squeeze a bit harder around his waist, as if in support.

The bike broke through the portal into the Fenton Works basement, screeching to a halt on the cold steel floor as Danny hit the breaks. The sound of something snapping through the air toward them drew his attention just before Danny and Sam found themselves wrapped tightly in a Fenton Cat O' Nine Tails. Danny's father was standing right beside the Fenton Portal near the computer, holding the weapon in one beefy hand.

"GAH! Dad! It's me! It's Danny!" Danny shouted quickly. It seemed to take a moment for his father to recognize him, but when he did his eyes went wide and his mouth split into a broad grin.

"D... Danny!? My son!?" Jack pressed the button on the handle to release the Cat O' Nine Tails. In a second he was on them, crushing them even tighter in his huge grip. "Danny! You're alive! Everyone's been looking for you for days! Your mother has been worried sick! Where were you!?"

"Look, I... I can't say. But I would really like to see you and mom." Danny replied once he got enough air into his lungs to speak.

"I'll go get her right away! Maddie! He's alive! Our son's not a ghost!" Jack turned and rushed up the stairs to the living room.

Sam and Danny exchanged a humorous glance and climbed off of the bike, their hands seeking each other out once they were standing on the floor. It was only a few more seconds before Maddie and Jack returned, this time teaming up to crush Sam and Danny between them like a vice.

"Gah! Hey! I'm not even your daughter!" Sam squirmed. "I don't even like my OWN parents hugging me... please... air... air..." At last the two older Fentons released them and they collapsed to their butts on the floor, leaning against the bike warily.

"Danny! Where have you BEEN!? You vanished for days without a word, leaving behind destruction and blood! We were sure you were... you were... Danny, how could you!?" Maddie shrieked.

"I know, I'm sorry." Danny replied quickly. "I didn't have a lot of choice."

"What has been going on!? You tell me this instant, Daniel Fenton!" His mother demanded. There was really no arguing with her when she used his full name.

"There's a ghost after me... a ghost I have to stop." Danny replied.

"A ghost is after you!? Danny, you should've told us! We're ghost hunters!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, we could help with this!" Maddie added.

"I know. And you're good ones too." Danny stood and rubbed his butt as he muttered under his breath. "I have the bruises to prove it."

"What?" His parents asked in unison.

"Nothing." Danny amended quickly. "But I don't need help right now. All I need... I guess all I need is your support. I don't want you to worry about me and... and I just need to know that you're here."

"Of course we're here, sweetie." Maddie pulled him into a more gentle hug. "We always will be, you know that. No matter where you go, or what you have to do. But really, sweetie, this all sounds so serious. Let us help you."

"You are, mom." Danny snuggled into his mother's arms. "You are..."

"Wait a moment." Jack muttered, peering down at Sam who was now leaning back against the bike. "You're not our daughter, and we had one of those too. Where's Jazz?"

"She's... one of the reasons I need to do this. Please, I can't explain, I really can't. Just trust me." Danny pleaded.

"We always trust you Danny..." Maddie looked uncertainly up at her husband, but he was still peering at Sam suspiciously.

"Whaaaaat?" Sam asked nervously, her face beginning to turn red.

"You smell like my son's cologne." Jack said suddenly. Sam's eyes went wide and her face lost all color.

"Ooookay, it's time for us to go." Danny grabbed Sam's wrist, pulling her back onto the bike with a nervous grin while he climbed on in front of her. He stopped his frantic motions when he felt Maddie's hand land on his upper arm, a gentle touch rather than the iron grip he'd been expecting.

"Both of you come back, Danny. Soon." Maddie smiled slightly. Danny could see a few tears dripping out from under the thick red goggles she wore whenever she was working on something with her husband.

Danny couldn't bring himself to answer as he carefully turned the bike around, backing into place in the middle of the basement laboratory while his parents watched with saddened expressions. "I'll make sure... I'll make sure Jazz comes back." Was all he could make himself say. Suddenly he thrust the engine to full throttle and the bike shot past them straight into the green vortex of the Ghost Zone. Without speaking, Danny turned the bike to head into the depths toward Pariah's Keep.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	19. Bad Medicine

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 19: Bad Medicine

Vlad Plasmeus floated through the normal, human afternoon sky. When he'd first gotten his ghost powers, he rather enjoyed hovering high above the city streets and watching the light shine down on the buildings in the city near his mansion. It had been years since he'd done it, of course. He had become preoccupied with other things. Amassing his fortune, Maddie, taking what life owed him, Maddie, living every single precious second of his life to the fullest, Maddie.

He stopped moving when he heard the sound of a jet board coming up behind him, the sound coming to a stop close behind his back. "It's almost time." Valerie's voice informed him.

"I know that." Vlad's gaze swept back down to the summer home he'd bought several years back, where he's left Jazz with everything he owned and a promise to keep. It wasn't ideal without that being Maddie down there, but for once, he was content without her. "And I am ready to go."

He turned back to Valerie, who turned her jet board around and gestured for him to follow as she took off across the land. They flew across the afternoon sky, so high they didn't need to be invisible to remain unseen by those people who traveled across the ground far below. Valerie led him on for a little while until they reached a large mountain range. She led him down between the craggy peaks, weaving easily through the boulders while Vlad simply phased through them.

They approached the bottom of the mountain range, where a small tunnel had been blown into one of the larger mountains. Valerie landed in front of it, her hover board withdrawing into the heels of her torn-up boots before she walked inside calmly. Vlad landed and walked in after her. He couldn't see anything at first, but in a few moments he realized that they didn't have far to go. In the distance up ahead of them was a strong green light, and a very chill wind.

Despite his resolution, Vlad shuddered at the cold fear that crept up the spines of every man who came face to face with this being. Knowing that it would mean the end of him only made it worse.

They soon emerged into a massive central chamber that was so large it seemed the entire mountain had been hollowed out. Yet the only piece of furniture in the room was a stone throne seated in the middle of the room, upon which was resting the physical form of the Reaper. Its skeletal hands were inert, and the cloak was lying flat against the chair as if unoccupied, while the pole of the scythe, sans-blade, leaned against the back of the throne.

Vlad turned back to Valerie. "Is he out to lunch? Should I come back later?"

"Shut up and bow, ghost." Valerie kicked him roughly in the back of the knee, knocking him to all fours with a grunt of pain. Vlad smirked and raised his head as the robes began to shudder.

The robes filled out as if a sudden wind had blown them from the seat. They expanded into the air, the skeletal hands sliding along the inside of their sleeves as if a separate entity until they finally locked into place. Soon the figure of the Reaper hovered before him, reaching back to grip the pole of its scythe. The pole flared with green ectoplasmic light and suddenly a blade arched outward almost as long as Vlad was tall.

"You have brought him early, Valerie. Very well done." The Reaper's internal voice was smooth and confident, though contained a trace of eagerness. "My task was a success as well, but I see it was a wasted effort. No matter, soon everything will be as it should be, no matter what that old fool Chronos says."

"As it should be? Just from having me?" Vlad asked curiously.

"Your powers are the key to bringing my full strength to bear in this world as it is in the Ghost Zone. With it, I will craft the ultimate paradise, free of hunger and pain. There will be no more need for deceit, rape or murder. All will be equal at long last... and there will be no need for the pain of loss." The Reaper reached out to Vlad, one skeletal finger running up the length of his chest. "A universe of immortal sprits who cannot feel pain... a universe of endless happiness."

Vlad stared in amazement. He never thought he could feel revulsion at the actions of another. Him, who made his fortune through lies, deceit, and even murder. Even he was left stunned and horrified at what this being was trying to do. "You want to turn the Earth into a second Ghost Zone? To destroy all life?"

"Life is pain, Vladimir." The Reaper told him simply. The skeletal hand opened wide and the Reaper pushed its palm against his chest, a powerful green light flashing between them. "A pain that can be extinguished forever."

"N... no... gguh..." Vlad closed his eyes, but could not resist. He was bound by his own word, given twenty years ago. He could feel his soul being opened, picked apart piece by piece like a spider-web being delicately unwoven. He clenched his teeth and fell to his knees, his arms falling limp at his sides. The reaper continued, hungry, eager to gain what it had waited so long for.

Suddenly Vlad howled in pain as something struck him in the lower back and a violent energy surge erupted through his body. The Reaper jerked back in surprise, breaking the unraveling process as Vlad's body suddenly began to shift back into its human form with a flash of light. Vlad grunted and fell to his hands and knees, panting on the ground.

"What is this!?" The Reaper demanded.

"My powers..." Vlad gasped in surprise. "My powers are gone." He pushed himself up to his knees, feeling a sharp pain in his back. Curiously he reached behind him and plucked a small steel wire out of his lower back. It looked like a tiny lightning-rod but was colored with a deep violet hue. He looked back toward the entrance of the cave to see where it came from, but the entranceway was empty save for the sound of heavy steel boots running down the tunnel.

"Valerie! Find out who that was! Send them to oblivion! No mercy for anyone who stands in your way!" The Reaper howled, more angry and frustrated than Vlad had ever heard him. Something had changed... Vlad must not have been the only one racing against time.

"Yes, my master." Valerie raised one arm, from which a massive cannon unlocked and slid into place as she turned to run out of the cave.

The Reaper gripped the front of Vlad's suit and yanked him up close to the faceless hood of his robe. "Change back. I need your powers!"

"I can't, they've been temporarily locked away!" Vlad replied honestly. "Give it a few hours and they'll be as good as new, but until then there's nothing I can do about this."

"Very well." The Reaper dropped Vlad to the ground and clutched the scythe in both skeletal fists. "I suppose it's a good thing I set that emergency plan into action then. It should give me all the time I need to evade even my brother's damned prophecies..."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	20. Live and Learn

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 20: Live and Learn

Pariah's Keep was a massive castle floating near the center of the explored regions of the Ghost Zone. The island it was perched on was barely large enough to hold the castle itself, as if a small piece of a medieval kingdom had been ripped from an old storybook. Danny didn't know of many fairy tales surrounding it, but he did know that a king lived here. A king who would hopefully never awaken to cause trouble again. He wouldn't if Danny had a say in the matter.

Danny and Sam remained in the large main entranceway, sitting on the cold stone floor with their backs against the far wall as they waited for Skulker's return. Danny sat with one arm around Sam's waist, while she leaned her cheek up against his shoulder with her arms wrapped around him. Johnny 13's bike was leaning against one of the large double-doors facing out into the Ghost Zone, ready to ride at a moment's notice should the need arise.

"More waiting." Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "It seems like all we've done lately is wait or run."

"What else are we supposed to do?" Sam asked. "That strategy is what has kept you alive so far."

"I don't know." Danny glanced down at his watch. One minute to six PM. Skulker's three hours were up thirty minutes ago. It occurred to him that if Skulker really wanted to, he could've just left and never come back. Danny couldn't catch up with him.

"How much longer do you think we should wait? I mean, if he's not coming, we could spend the rest of our lives here waiting." Sam replied.

"Maybe that's the best we CAN do now." Danny looked down at her, squeezing her a bit tighter in one arm. "Spend the rest of our lives together." He'd grown accustomed to hearing words of encouragement and optimism from her, but she had none for him now. So he held onto her tighter, leaning his cheek against the top of her head and closing his eyes.

Suddenly an explosion rocked Pariah's Keep, jolting both Sam and Danny to their feet instantly. They both gasped and stepped closer together when a disturbingly familiar figure appeared through a hole that appeared above them.

Valerie had a victorious smirk on her face as she descended down to ground level, letting the hover board withdraw into the soles of her feet and landing expertly on the ground in front of them. Danny's body flashed into its Ghost Mode, but Valerie didn't even flinch. She raised one powerful arm cannon up in front of her, aiming the building ball of energy straight at his face.

"How did you find us?" Danny demanded.

"A little metal birdie told me." Valerie grinned and pulled out the robotic head of Skulker's suit. She carelessly threw the robotic head over her shoulder, letting it roll across the floor to the wall. Sam gulped and Danny stepped back, his fists beginning to glow with green ecto-energy.

"You're sick, Valerie..." Danny growled.

"Wrong, Fenton." Valerie spat venomously. "You're sick. And I've got the cure right here!" Valerie leapt into the air, a moment in time that seemed like it lasted for an eternity. Danny's arms came up to protect himself while Sam lurched to get out of the way, running for the other side of the room with every breath taking several minutes. Valerie brought her fist down as time seemed to explode back to normal speed.

Danny blocked the first punch with both arms, a massive impact that slid him back across the floor on his heels. The next kick slammed into his stomach, that same leg bolting up to slam into the back of his head and knock him stumbling to one side. Danny yelped as her heel connected with his, sweeping him to his back on the ground where he lay as Valerie lunches, one fist coming straight down toward him.

Danny put his hands together and sent a massive ecto-blast digging straight into her chest. It was absorbed into her body like all the others, but the force of it sent her hurtling through the air away from him. Danny rolled to his feet and flew after her at full speed, his ghostly tail whipping through the wind behind him as he caught up with her and sent another double-handed ecto-blast searing straight into her face.

Valerie's body tumbled end-over-end through the air until it slammed straight into a massive, sturdy wooden box in the back of the castle. Danny winced when he realized what it was. The Sarcophagus of Eternal Sleep. He had to be careful, if they broke that thing they would have another problem to worry about.

With a growl Valerie launched herself off of the sarcophagus, the cannons built into her gloves emerging and firing a volley of great green ecto-blasts. Danny whirled through them, putting some distance between them to give himself time to dodge. Suddenly he whirled and flew down toward the ground behind him, spinning through the continued ecto-fire and whirling back into the main hallway, where Sam was waiting with the bike.

"Danny, come on! Maybe we can outrun her!" Sam shouted. Danny looked in her direction, then whirled upward toward the ceiling.

"You take it Sam! Get out of here! I'll catch up!" Danny shouted down at her.

He didn't have time to hear her retort as Valerie slammed into him from behind with her hover board, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. He gripped her arms, trying to pull them back. He could feel her trying to twist them, to snap his neck in one swift motion and put an end to the fight in a split second. He tried to fly away, to go intangible, anything, but she was holding too tight and he couldn't phase through ghosts here.

"No more tricks, Ghost Boy?" Valerie squeezed his throat tighter. "Not gonna use some new power? Not gonna try to disable my board? Nothing? You're just gonna choke and die?" She barked out a vicious laugh, growling into his ear. "Good."

Suddenly the sound of a motor approaching deafened them both just before it slammed into Valerie, knocking her away from Danny. Danny whirled in astonishment to see Sam riding Johnny's bike, revving up the engine with a snarl on her face with Valerie stuck to the front bumper. Sam kicked the bike to the side and turned away just before hitting the wall, sending Valerie spinning straight into it hard enough to punch a hole in the side of Pariah's Keep.

Sam drove around Danny in a tight circle before darting toward the exit. "Come on Danny, get on!"

"Just a second!" Danny scanned the floor for a moment, then flashed down to the ground to snatch Skulker's head before flying up to hop on the motorcycle behind Sam. The bike roared out of Pariah's Keep, flying through the Ghost Zone, but a glance back told him that Valerie's hover board was keeping pace with them, her ecto cannons orienting on their position.

Danny threw his hand back, a powerful ecto-shield extending in front of his palm to block the incoming projectiles. "You think we can go any faster?" Danny shouted into the wind.

"This is as fast as I can go and still keep this thing under control. I'm not exactly a biker chick!" Sam shouted back.

The bike suddenly weaved to one side, narrowly avoiding one of the infinite numbers of doors that floated through the Ghost Zone, opening into an infinite number of ghostly lairs. Valerie's blasts continued to slam into the doors, pummeling them in massive explosions of wood and ecto-energy while Danny's ghost shield deflected those that came too close. They were moving at a decent pace, Valerie seemed unable to move any closer but they weren't putting any distance between them either.

"Hang on Danny. I'm going to try some evasive maneuvers." Sam revved the engine. Danny gulped and gripped her waist tighter just before she yanked the bike off to the side, sending them hurtling straight toward one of the many doors.

The bike smashed through in a shower of splinters, taking off across a different section of the Ghost Zone. This one looked like a massive desert expanse, with a powerful glowing golden orb hovering high above like a fake sun. In the distance they could see a grand palace glimmering in the simulated heat of the 'sun' high overhead. In the distance Danny could make out a humanoid form watching from atop a sand dune with a ghostly tail where the legs should have been, but he couldn't make out who it was.

Suddenly the bike rocked off to one side as a massive whirlwind kicked up right in front of them. The sand whipped through the air, flying in Danny's eyes before he had a chance to cover them properly. He had barely gotten them clear enough to open them before a second whirlwind whipped up on their other side, coming straight at them. There was no way these things were natural. There was an upside though. Valerie seemed to be having even more trouble with them, since the furious winds caught her hover board like a metal kite and threatened to haul her off into the sky.

"Go Sam! This is our chance!" Danny shouted against the wind. Sam nodded jerked the bike to one side, but the tires slipped through the sand sideways and almost toppled over, coming to a stop after a short distance. Another whirlwind amassed in front of them, the biting sand and roaring winds moving at an incredibly rapid pace across the desert. Sam revved the engine of the bike, but the wheel kicked up a cloud behind them without taking them anywhere.

Suddenly the sandstorm vanished as a ghostly figure appeared in front of them, turning to look down at them through a thick veil of hair that covered one eye.

"You're helping me?" Danny asked in confusion.

Desiree chuckled, her voice floating through the air as if carried by magic. "Not you, ghost-boy. Word of your conflict is spreading into the Ghost Zone, and word of the consequences of your failure is spreading with it." Her smile faded as she spoke again. Around them the winds continues to roar, but her magic maintained a clean bubble of calmness around the three of them. "It is to the benefit of all that the Reapers ambitions are not met. Life is what we all treasured once... to see it gone is a curse none can bear. Not even us."

Desiree floated off to one side, revealing a door behind her. It slid open in front of them as their bike lifted from the sand and set down right in front of it. "Hurry ghost-child. And remember, in this time of need for all things, you have many allies hidden among your foes in the Ghost Zone."

"Thank you, we'll do our best." Danny nodded. Desiree moved to float back, but a massive ecto blast ripped out of the surrounding winds, throwing her back into the hurricanes where she vanished from sight.

Valerie appeared on the other side of the small and vanishing bubble of calm air. More ecto-blasts erupted around them, so Sam kicked the bike into gear and they flew through the door Desiree had left open for them.

The bike landed on a tuft of grass, flying across the ground in front of a massive medieval castle surrounded by a magnificently sparkling moat. High in the sky Danny could see a white dragon circling among the Ghost Zone's essence. On the other side of them was a large old-fashioned village made up of small huts that dotted the landscape in intricate patterns, watched over by the careful eye of the dragon overhead.

Sam leaned over and turned the bike quickly down toward the village, racing down the hill into the huts for cover from the constant ecto-fire of Valerie's cannons. The ghosts who populated this town gasped and screamed in surprise when they passed, rushing to get out of their way as Sam struggled to weave through them and keep from slamming into any buildings.

"Okay, maybe this wasn't such a hot idea!" Sam shouted back to Danny.

"No, it's good! We're calling attention to ourselves!" Danny looked up. The massive white dragon was quickly descending toward the land, its blood red eyes spotting Danny before turning to focus on Valerie, whose ecto-fire was tearing holes into the village buildings and coming close to taking out several ghosts.

The dragon roared in righteous anger moments before it came down right on top of Valerie, who never saw it coming. The massive impact rocked the entire landmass the village was built on, and both Valerie and the dragon ghost vanished into the growing cloud of dust and debris. Sam hit the brakes and the bike screeched to a stop as they both looked back to see what had happened.

The ghostly citizens also emerged from their homes to see what had happened, gathering to watch the cloud of dust slowly begin to dissipate enough to see inside.

"Dora?" Sam called into the dissipating mist. Gasps and screams erupted from the gathered crowd as Valerie stood over the unconscious form of the ghostly princess, clutching a golden amulet tightly in one clenched fist.

"This is getting old, Danny." Valerie dropped the amulet on the princess' chest carelessly, turning to face Danny and Sam, who were still huddled together on the bike. "You gonna make me keep chasing you and hope one of these ghost freaks will be able to stop me? Or are you gonna stand your ground and take what you've got coming to you?"

Danny looked around quickly, as if looking for a way out. Suddenly, he noticed a peculiarly marked door hovering in the Ghost Zone high overhead. He nudged Sam and jerked his head toward the door, at which she nodded.

"What's the matter Valerie? Getting tired? Come on, feel the burn!" No sooner did he finish than Sam kicked the motorcycle into high gear. The thing bucked against the ground, then took off like a shot, moving across the ground for only a moment before Sam lifted it up and took off into the sky, heading straight for the door Danny had indicated earlier.

They broke through it in a few moments amid a hailstorm of renewed ecto-fire from Valerie's cannons, flying through it into a strange space of the Ghost Zone. The air around them looked like it was split into lines, with wires extending in every single direction in an infinite pattern. Electrical energy flowed visibly through each of these lines, flowing through the entire area as if it was one giant computer.

Valerie plunged through the door behind them, giving up her two smaller guns to bring her bigger one to bear, aiming it carefully in their direction. "That's it Danny! No more playing nice! I'm taking you d-huh!?" Valerie gasped in shock when suddenly her suit began to audibly power down. Her cannon faded into a dull color, and the engines on her hover board cut out, leaving her floating in place like any other ghost. "What's going on!?"

Danny grinned as Sam brought the bike to a screeching stop, floating in place. "I thought someone might want his things back."

"Indeed I do! Haaahahahahahaha!" Uproarious laughter filled the Ghost Zone as the electrical energy flowed through the wires, converging in a single line behind Valerie to quickly combine into the physical shape of Technus 2.0, the ghost of science and technology. "They say you've been doing naughty things, child." He grinned down at Valerie. "I think you need to be punished."

"Who the heck is this fool?" Valerie demanded. "And how dare you interfere with me! I am the Reaper's Emissary!"

"Oh my, that is impressive." Technus nodded as if impressed. "Which means you don't need my technology anymore!" He thrust his hand out, and what remained of Valerie's body armor suddenly flew from her body, leaving her a dark, ghostly shadow of her normal human self.

"Hey! My gear!" Valerie howled in anger. "How DARE you take my gear! That belongs to me! That's stealing, and the Reaper does NOT condone stealing! Especially from me!"

"Wrong, child." Technus countered. "I gave it to you! So I have broken none of the Reaper's laws. I simply reclaimed what is mine."

"It doesn't matter anyway." Valerie turned back to Danny and grinned. "I'm still more than strong enough to paste you and every single ghost in the Ghost Zone with my bare hands!"

"Maybe. But good luck catching us on foot, Val." Danny retorted. Sam revved the engine of Johnny's supped up motorcycle to drive the point home. Valerie looked down at her feet, then looked up with a vicious snarl on her face.

"I'll get you for this!" Valerie whirled and threw a punch at Technus, but the techno-ghost vanished back into the intangible wiring of his domain and several electrical sparks flitted at astonishing speed through the air, passing by Sam and Danny. Sam turned the bike and rode after him while Valerie fumed far behind them. "It doesn't matter how long it takes! I'll get you all!"

Sam and Danny followed the ghostly sparks through the small domain out of Valerie's sight, until the sparks stopped by another door and reformed right beside it so Technus could pull the door open.

"Go on, children." Technus told them.

"Thanks, Technus. I gotta admit, when we first got in here I was afraid you'd want your revenge on me no matter what it took." Danny replied. "We haven't been friendly in the past. Ever."

"I am not friendly, child." Technus smirked. "This was the logical course of action."

With that, Sam took them out of Technus' area of the Ghost Zone. The techno-ghost knew his stuff, because they emerged almost right beside the Fenton Portal. Danny let his Ghost Mode fade away while Sam set down the bike on a small nearby island mass, leaning over the handlebars.

"I can't believe we made it." Sam panted.

"You did fantastic, Sam. I don't think I could've driven nearly that well." Danny told her.

Sam blushed and grinned, stammering modestly for a moment. "Yeah, well, y'know I just did what I had to do..." Danny, though, had already turned his attention to Skulker's metal skull, which he continued to hold in one arm. He turned the skull over and carefully reached inside of it, feeling his fingers brush something soft. With gentle precision he slipped his fingers in underneath it and pulled out the tiny, gelatinous, true form of the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter.

"Skulker. You are still alive." Danny said. The form opened its tiny eyes to glare up at him. "Relatively speaking."

"Of course I'm still here, ghost-child." Skulker sat up on his palm, though he was clearly very weak. "It will take more than some punk ghost with armor and an attitude to destroy the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter."

"Don't forget the overwhelming power." Sam added.

"What did you find out about Vlad?" Danny cut back to the issue at hand. "Where is he?"

"The Reaper already has him hidden in a mountain northwest of Plasmeus' summer home on the Florida coast." Skulker replied. "I was on my way to Pariah's Keep when that girl jumped me from behind. From the sound of it, some others heard me talking about what I saw." Skulker looked back at the door from which they'd existed Technus' domain.

"If the Reaper has him, then it's over. He has the power he needs." Danny exclaimed in despair.

"Not yet. You have three more hours." Skulker grinned proudly even as a small piece of Jell-O sitting on Danny's palm. "To keep the absorption from happening, I hit him with a little device I've been working on to help me hunt you. It's a spike that sends an ectoplasm energy resin through human blood. In normal humans and ghosts it does nothing, but in half-ghosts it shorts out their powers for several hours."

"Who thought having someone plan for my eventual demise would turn out so handy?" Danny asked.

"Don't feel safe, whelp! Once this is all over, it's back to the hunt as usual!" Skulker exclaimed.

"Just try it, Slimer." Danny carelessly dropped the small hunk of ectoplasm to the land and moved to rejoin Sam on the motorcycle.

"To Florida?" Sam asked.

"It may be suicide to walk right up to the Reaper like this, but if we don't get Vlad away from him it won't matter what else we do. To Florida." Danny agreed. Sam nodded and kicked the bike into a roaring start, carrying them up off the land toward the Fenton Portal.

Skulker slowly pushed his gelatinous body up from the landmass, looking after the motorcycle as it vanished into the Ghost Zone. "Arrogant whelp. You'd better be prepared for your little 'surprise'." He sneered before turning to fly away into the Ghost Zone.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	21. Twilight

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 21: Twilight

The air of the human world seemed unusually invigorating after spending so long confined within the Ghost Zone. Johnny's bike made quick work of the distance, flying through the air as easily as it had flown through the Ghost Zone. Sam seemed to be getting more comfortable with the powerful machine, dodging through trees and occasional mountains that showed up in their flight path.

Danny kept his arms locked around Sam's waist, pressing his chest against her back to lessen the wind resistance as much as possible. One more hour... one more hour before time was up and the Reaper would be able to absorb Vlad. After that... no, there was no point in thinking about that now. It wouldn't come to that. Danny would be consigned to oblivion before it did.

In another fifteen minutes they spotted a small summer home nestled on the beach in front of the ocean. It wasn't the only one of its kind, but the prominent green and gold color scheme was one only a single person would ever curse an entire building with.

"Alright, that must be Vlad's summer home." Danny said. "Now we just turn northwest and..." Danny trailed off when a flash of movement caught his eye from one of the building's windows. He swore he saw someone with red hair walking past. He stared intently at that same spot, but didn't see it again.

"Danny?" Sam called over her shoulder.

"Let's set down for a few minutes..." Danny replied. Sam looked over her shoulder at him quizzically, but turned the bike to bring it down on the sandy beach beside the large wooden home. Danny climbed off of the bike and took a step back. It was a pretty big building for one that went unused all the time. "I could've sworn I saw Jazz in there for a second."

"Really?" Sam moved to stand beside him, looking up at the building. "This must be where he left her before the Reaper nabbed him. But you know, she might be..." Sam trailed off uncomfortably. They both knew what Vlad had begun to do to her, though they had no idea how.

"I have to find out. Then we can go get Vlad." Danny replied. Sam nodded and moved to follow as Danny walked around to the front of the house, making his way up the long wooden staircase to the patio that led up to the front entrance. As he approached the door he stopped suddenly and took a deep breath as a thin blue mist began to emanate from his open mouth.

"Ghost sense?" Danny looked down in surprise.

Suddenly the floorboard exploded upwards in a wave of sound, throwing both Sam and Danny back through the air all the way down to the sandy beach. Sam and Danny sputtered and coughed as they scrambled up to their feet, looking back up toward the summer home to see Ember McLain floating out of the hole in the patio, holding her guitar in both hands. Her face was a blank mask, her eyes concealed by glowing red pools of energy.

The revving of a powerful engine drew both of their gazes off to the side, where Johnny 13 was mounted on his motorcycle, holding the handlebars in a death grip. Kitty sat on the seat behind him, in one hand clutching a length of long chain with spikes welded to its surface. She whirled the weapon over her head, then brought it crashing down to the sand. Each of their faces were blank, and their eyes blood red.

Sam's sudden shriek of shock and terror made Danny whirl on his heels. He gasped and stumbled away from the sight before him, putting one hand out to pull Sam back with him. Rising out of the sand before them was a third ghost, this one a shorter, scrawnier boy no older than Danny himself. He glared at Danny from under his backwards baseball cap, his eyes glowing blood red.

"T... Tuck...?" Sam stammered in horror. "That's Tucker!"

"What do you think of my bodyguards, little brother?" Danny turned back numbly, looking up at the balcony above the patio to see Jazz sitting daintily on the rail with one leg on the balcony. She was wearing a sheer black dress slit up the sides to her thighs and cut down low on the neckline. A shimmering violet jewel shined from a golden necklace around her neck, visible all around her neck since her hair was brought up in a thick ponytail that flowed down to the middle of her back. "He was kind enough to send them to me to protect me from you."

Danny just stared up at her blankly. It was as if everything he'd been fighting to prevent was happening all at once. He'd failed, again and again. He thought Tucker would be safe... but he should've known. He'd used his powers at Ember's again, he'd led the Reaper straight there. He'd hoped the Reaper would think he was leaving, but he must have gone to check anyway...

"What's the matter, little brother?" Jazz's voice was light and mocking when she spoke, with a trace of a smile on her lips. "Do you need your big sister to tell you what to do? As if you were ever smart enough to listen to her before."

"Danny?" Sam's voice shuddered in fear and worry, her hand slipping around Danny's so that their fingers could intertwine. "Danny, you've got to do something. Snap out of it."

"Those words aren't hers..." Danny said softly. "He's managed to do everything she feared most. Take away who she is." Danny turned his gaze up toward Jazz again, gritting his jaw and clenching his free fist. Gently he pushed Sam's hand away from him and took a step forward, the light engulfing his body as his ghostly self took over. The three ghosts around him all took preparatory stances.

"You're not going to run away like you've been doing for days?" Jazz smirked mockingly. Out of the corner of his eye Danny could see Sam discreetly putting some distance between them. "Not like you could get far, but once a coward always a coward."

"No. I'm not running anymore. No more plotting and planning and searching. I'm saving you right here and now." Danny launched himself up from the ground, flying high into the air. Johnny, Ember, and Tucker all followed him into the sky. Danny clenched his fists at his sides, letting them glow with green ecto-energy as Ember placed her pick to her guitar strings and Johnny revved up his bike.

Danny's arms flashed out in front of him, two ecto-blasts flying at Johnny and Ember. Ember blocked with her guitar while Johnny simply brought the front of his bike up to block the blast.

Ember charged forward, whirling through the air with her guitar flying like a baseball bat. Danny whirled out of the way, his ghostly body stretching out behind him to avoid being struck before he fired back a return punch, but her guitar came back around to slam heavily into his arm. Danny yelped, but didn't let the pain stop him from bringing his other arm around, an ecto-blast slamming into Ember's shoulder from point blank range to knock her away from him.

A sickening crack split the air as Johnny rode past right behind him and Kitty's spiked chain dug deep into his shoulders. Danny hurdled forward end over end until he came down on top of Vlad's roof. With a grunt he pushed himself to his hands and knees, struggling against the pain of the gashes in his back. No time to recover, Johnny was already bringing his bike around again.

Danny climbed up to a crouching position, watching as the bike roared toward him. Kitty whipped the chain around her head, building momentum for a violent swing just as they got within range. Danny leapt into the air in a backwards summersault, flinging both arms down with a brilliant flash of blue ghost energy. The bike sputtered and roared as a thick sheet of ice coated its entire frame, freezing its wheels and gears in place.

Danny floated to a stop as the bike hurtled uselessly toward the ground. A quick burst of his Ghost Sense made Danny whirl, raising his glowing green hands in front of him. He stopped dead when he found himself staring down the barrel of some kind of gun that was leaking electricity into the air around them. Right behind the barrel shone Tucker's ghostly red eyes.

Sam watched the battle with her hands clasped in front of her. She always hated this part. The watching and waiting. It was even worse now, knowing what was at stake and who Danny was fighting. Her eyes drifted downward from the sky battle to Jazz, who was kneeling down behind the balcony railing for a moment. When she emerged she was holding a massive ecto-cannon perched on her shoulder with a broad grin on her face.

"Danny! DANNY!" Sam tried to scream, but Danny was too caught up in his ghost troubles. Sam looked around frantically for anything to throw, then knelt down and pulled off one of her thick steel-toed boots. She whirled it around her head for a moment before spinning and letting it arc through the air toward the building.

Jazz yelped when the boot slammed into her cannon, causing it to discharge straight into the bottom of her balcony with a deafening crash. The floor caved in underneath her, leaving her dangling halfway through the floor, clutching at it desperately so she wouldn't fall through.

Sam ran toward the house, scaling the front steps and leaping easily over the hole in the patio to get inside. She stopped in the front entranceway, which was directly under the upstairs balcony. She could see Jazz's legs kicking, trying to get back up on the second floor. Sam marched up to her ankles and grabbed hold of them, yanking them away from the hole viciously. Jazz screamed as her hands slipped straight off of the floorboards upstairs, bringing her crashing down to the first floor with a sickening thump and a gasp of pain.

"How can you try to hurt Danny!?" Sam shouted. "Come on Jazz! You're smarter than this! You're stronger than this!"

Jazz slowly raised her head, facing away from Sam as she slid up to her hands and knees. "You're right, slut..." She slowly turned her head around. The bright, glowing red pools of ecto energy in her eyes caused Sam to recoil in shock. "I am stronger!" She whirled suddenly with supernatural speed, lunging straight at Sam with her arms outstretched and her hands glowing violet.

Danny howled as he flew back through the air, his inert form skipping over the sand for several steps before finally rolling to a stop. His body was twitching with electricity as he tried to roll to his feet. Tucker was floating after him slowly, the weapons in his hands rolling and shifting from electrical cannons to some strange tubes from which a pair of ectoplasmic ropes flew towards him.

Danny raised his arms, putting up his ecto shield to block the ropes and throwing his arms out to break them both in one jerk. "Tucker! The others may be just ghosts! But YOU'RE not! You're my friend, Tucker!"

Tucker didn't respond as the rods in his hands shifted again into a pair of prongs the length of his arms. He touched them together in front of them, a massive jolt of lightning passing between the two metal points. At his sides Danny could also see Ember rejoining the fight, and beside her Johnny and Kitty moved to join them on foot, since Johnny's bike was still a useless hunk of ice.

Danny raised his hands in front of him as Kitty and Ember both attacked at once. He managed to slip past Kitty's slashing claw, but the tip of Ember's swinging guitar got him in the stomach, knocking him back. He fired two ecto-blasts, but they both leaned back in unison as if reenacting a famous movie scene. They didn't bother getting back up as Johnny and Tucker took their place, stepping into the fray.

Johnny swung a clumsy fist, unable to summon his Shadow in the fading sunlight. Danny blocked it easily and blasted him back with a bolt to the stomach, but a blast of lightning from Tucker's rods caught him off-guard. Danny hurtled back through the air with a pained scream, rolling from the sand straight into the gentle ocean waves that crawled up and down the beach.

Ember stepped forward and raised one hand, bringing it down on her guitar strings with a theatrical flare. Tucker raised his lightning rods at the same time, his electrical energy catching onto Ember's powerful sound wave to ride together toward the ocean, where Danny struggled to clear his head from the last blast.

Sam flew back through one of the thin wooden doors that served decorative purposes more than functional ones. She fell to her back amid the splinters of the door, doubling over and coughing in pain on the floor. She tried to roll to her hands and knees, looking up as Jazz pushed the remains of the door aside, raising one glowing violet hand in front of her with a wry grin.

"But you're... you're not a ghost. You're not." Sam complained.

"Why little slut..." Jazz smirked mockingly. "Didn't you know? All you need is a ghost inside of you." She raised her hand to her head, closing her eyes. "Ghostly DNA, a free spirit, ectoplasm, whatever you feel like calling it. The human body can tap into it... it's what we're all truly made of, after all. On the inside." She opened her eyes, grinning down at Sam. "And Vlad was kind enough to give me the glorious gift of his own ectoplasm... so much of it." She lowered both of her hands to her stomach, cradling it tenderly in both hands with a loving smile.

Sam watched her for a moment, then twisted her face in disgust. "Eeeeewe. And you call me 'slut'? At Least I LIKE Danny."

"Shut up!" Jazz howled.

"Hey, calm down." Sam raised her hands in front of her, slowly rising to her feet. "I don't mean to hurt you... I want to help you. This isn't you, at all. You would never do this. You would never do anything with Vlad, and you would never try to hurt Danny. I know you wouldn't. You'd try to help him even if he didn't want you to. You're a different person now, Jazz." She thought she saw Jazz's eyes quiver at that last statement, but it faded quickly.

"I know what I want to be, and I know what I will be. I also know what you will be, slut." Jazz raised her hands, the violet energy around them glowing brighter than before. "Dead." Sam raised her hands defensively in front of her, bracing for the coming assault. Suddenly the entire building began to rock to the side as a thunderous roar echoed through the vibrating walls.

Jazz ignored it, throwing herself forward as several ecto-blasts ripped through the walls of the building when Sam dodged off to the side, running through the swaying building and into one of the back rooms. She lurched deeper into the room, suddenly tripping to one side as the building began to rock again on its foundations, sending her stumbling sidelong into the wall with a heavy thud.

Jazz floated into the room after her with a wicked grin on her face, her fists pulsing with violet energy. "You can't run forever, slut. And you can't fight me now!" She thrust her palms out, sending several ecto-blasts flying at Sam. Sam shoved off of the wall, falling to the ground as the blasts ripped through the wall of the building behind her. The building was already swaying from the explosion outside, but this set it to leaning heavily to one side.

"Jazz! Stop! I don't want to fight you!" Sam shouted. She tried to stand up, but the building shuddered and leaned suddenly, tossing her to the ground again and sliding her against the wall. As she looked up, she could see the ceiling beginning to come down on top of her. "Jazz! Please! JAZZ!" Sam raised her arms over her head, trying to absorb the blow, though she knew she didn't have a chance.

The combined blast ripped into the ocean in a massive explosion that rocked the summer home down to its very foundation. Ember, Tucker, Johnny and Kitty gathered at the water's edge as the ocean spray rained down around them. Their ghostly red eyes scanned the horizon, the air, anything for any sign of their target. But he seemed to have vanished.

Danny rose out of the sand behind them intangibly, sucking in a deep breath before letting it out all at once in a massive Ghostly Wail that kicked up the sand in an opaque wall. The four ghosts whirled, but the power being pushed into them was unstoppable, and one-by-one the ghosts were flung away from him into the ocean waters. Only Tucker managed to hold on, digging his lightning-rods into the sand and clinging to them to hold him in place, though he seemed to be getting weaker.

Danny's body flashed back to his human form when the Wail died down and he stumbled woozily, falling to his knees on the sand panting for breath. When he looked up he saw Tucker plucking his lightning rods out of the sand. Danny climbed to his feet and stumbled away as his best friend followed close, letting the electricity crackle and sparkle along the length of his two rods.

"Tucker... come on..." Danny pleaded as he stumbled on the sand and fell to his back. "Please, Tucker! You don't want to hurt me! Whatever control the Reaper has over you, you're still my friend! TUCKER!" Danny raised his hands in front of him as the lightning rods moved closer, almost close enough to touch his arms. Danny shivered on the sand, knowing without his powers he was completely at Tucker's mercy.

"You don't... need me." Tucker's voice said in a ghostly whisper. Danny opened his eyes slowly, seeing the red energy faded from his eyes, replaced with deep regret and sadness. "You don't need a friend anymore."

"What are you talking about, Tuck?" Danny stood up slowly, his arms still shaking.

"You have Sam..." Tucker sighed. "You don't need me now that you have her."

"Tuck, I..." Danny stopped when he heard a thunderous crash from behind him. He looked back quickly, seeing the remains of Vlad's summer home now lying in a jumbled pile of wood and concrete on top of the beach. Danny looked around the building, but couldn't see anyone anywhere. "J... Jazz? Sam? JAZZ! SAM!" Danny screamed and ran across the sand toward the building.

"SAM!" Danny slid to a stop in the sand and his body flashed with ghostly light, but it didn't solidify around his body. It dispersed into the air around him, leaving him a normal, helpless child standing before a pile of rubble and ruin. Still Danny threw himself against the pile, his hands ripping and pulling at the pieces of the building. His breath came in desperate gasps as he worked, his heart racing.

He clawed at the larger chunks of debris, desperately hauling one out of the way before moving onto shoveling smaller pieces away from the next big one. He heard Tucker float up in the air behind him. Danny whirled to look up at him frantically. "Tucker, help me!" Tucker looked away slowly, his eyes glossing over. "Damnit Tucker, if you don't want to do it for me then do it for them!"

"Maybe I don't want to." Tucker replied stubbornly, turning to look at Danny.

"Tucker... please..." Danny looked down and closed his eyes. "I know I haven't been a very good hero... or a very good friend. If I was either of those things you might be... might be..." He clenched his teeth and gulped back a sob as he continued. "And I'm sorry, Tucker! But I can't... we can't let Sam and Jazz die too! We can't! They don't deserve to die because I failed you."

Danny sighed deeply, opening his eyes to stare down at the sand uselessly. "I'm sorry I failed you and abandoned you. There's nothing I can do to make up for that, but let you do whatever you want to me. If you want ghostly revenge, fine... but do it after we save Sam and Jazz. Please." He raised his eyes to Tucker, watching the ghost look down at him with a thoughtful expression.

Suddenly Tucker turned to the building, raising the two lightning rods in front of him. They both shifted once again in his palms, reforming into a pair of powerful magnet-looking devices that exuded blue energy. The energy flashed outward into the building, engulfing the pieces of rubble and flinging them aside as if they were feathers. Danny watched anxiously, gripping his hands in front of him and looking for any sign of the girls.

At last Tucker heaved a massive piece of the roof out of the way, still intact and lying flat against the floor. There, underneath the section was a pair of bodies, miraculously untouched by the mess around them. Jazz was lying on top of Sam, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Their bodies were slightly transparent, as if somehow they had managed to go intangible.

Danny rushed through the rubble that remained and knelt down beside the two girls. Jazz opened her eyes weakly, then collapsed against Sam's chest with her eyes closed as their bodies returned fully to their normal state. Sam was panting heavily as if in shock, struggling to move Jazz off of her.

"Sam! Sam, you're okay! You're both okay!" Danny fell to his knees beside them, reaching out to wrap his arms around Sam's torso, pulling her head against his chest.

Sam coughed through the dust that continued to filter down around them. "Danny... Danny, I can't believe it." Sam gasped out through her coughs. Danny held her tightly against his chest, trying to calm her down with a hand against her cheek. "I'm alive... we're alive because of Jazz." She looked down at Danny's older sister. "She must've broken Vlad's control enough to save me..."

"Sam... Sam, Sam, Sam." Danny kissed her on the lips, as if eager to prove to himself that she was still alive.

Sam grunted in surprise, her fingers pushing at his face until he pulled back. "Hey, knock it off... you're getting mushy and this isn't the time." She blushed hotly. "We still have to get to the Reaper before he can absorb Vlad."

Danny blinked. "You're right... how much time do we have left?" Danny asked quickly.

Sam looked down at the watch on her left wrist, then closed her eyes. "Ten minutes." She looked up at Danny. Danny gulped and just stared back at her. "We have ten minutes before the Reaper absorbs Vlad."

"Time to party like it's 1999?" Danny smiled weakly.

Sam smiled back and put one hand on his shoulder, allowing him to lift her off the ground. Sam was careful to hold Jazz up until she could get her arms underneath her to cradle her against her chest. Danny put a hand on Sam's shoulder to support her as they moved away from the debris, out through the path Tucker had carved. To Danny's surprise Tucker was gone by the time they emerged, but Ember, Johnny and Kitty were just leaving the ocean, back to their old selves.

"Geeze, what the heck happened to me?" Ember stretched her back out with a crack. "One second I'm lying in bed, the next I'm sleeping with the fishes."

"Deja-Vu, huh?" Kitty smirked. Ember glared over at her.

"Hey, what're you doing here and... my bike!" Johnny screamed when he saw his bike frozen on the sand. One wheel had popped off on impact and was currently floating somewhere out in the ocean. "What did you do to my bike!?"

"It's over." Danny announced. All eyes turned back to him, even Johnny's rants about his busted bike died away as he spoke. "We've lost... the Reaper's won. In five minutes now, he'll be able to absorb Vlad. He'll destroy everything, and everyone in the human world to create a second Ghost Zone." The ghosts exchanged a silent glance while Danny shook his head. "In five minutes, the world is going to end."

TO BE CONTINUED 


	22. Hate Me

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 22: Hate Me

"Ughn!" Valerie gasped out in pain as her ghostly body bounced off of the cold, hard stone inside of the hollow mountain. She rolled across the floor until finally the far wall broke her tumble with a painful crack. She lay on the ground shuddering in pain and surprise, opening her eyes to see the Reaper hovering in front of his throne. Vlad in his human form was standing beside the throne, unspeaking and unmoving, though his eyes never left her.

"That is the price you pay. Your failure could have threatened the birth of paradise. You should be thankful that the precaution I took has rendered your failure irrelevant." The Reaper turned away from her with a sweep of his grand cloak.

"Yes master... I'm sorry." Valerie rose to her hands and knees, bowing her head in apology. When she looked up again the Reaper didn't acknowledge her presence, all of his focus squarely on Vlad Masters, who was standing with a composed, dignified posture.

"I can feel your strength returning, Vlad." The Reaper said. "Within minutes your power will be whole again, and I will be free to bring all beings into the light of death. The strength of 'life' will be no obstacle."

"You're mad." Vlad smirked with a chuckle. "And that means a lot coming from me."

"Petty quips and jokes are irrelevant to me." The Reaper replied. "All that matters is the power you possess. The power to restore my strength in this world. To create paradise."

Vlad ignored him, instead turning his eyes toward Valerie, who was still kneeling by the far wall near the cavern entrance. "Are you ready, Miss Grey? To watch the world burn before your eyes?" His eyes bore into hers for a moment before the Reaper's scythe slammed into the back of his head, knocking him to his knees.

"Do not address my emissary, mortal." The Reaper growled. Vlad said nothing more as Valerie rose to her feet, watching the pair of them wait in the middle of the cavern.

Without warning, Vlad's body twitched and a powerful light engulfed his body, sweeping outward until he was kneeling before her in his ghostly form. For the first time since she'd brought him here, she saw a trace of fear in his eyes, but there was nothing he could do as the Reaper grabbed hold of his cape and yanked him to his feet. Vlad held his head high as the Reaper moved in front of him, clutching the scythe eagerly in both hands.

"I can sense your newfound fear." The Reaper mocked. "Perhaps you were expecting to be rescued. Perhaps you were waiting for a hero. You were wasting your time."

"Go ahead then. Do it." Vlad closed his eyes. "But know that the world won't fall as easily as you believe. Humans are weak creatures by nature... but the forces at their command are beyond your imagination."

The Reaper laughed, a dark hiss of a laugh that made Valerie recoil slightly. "I know what drives humanity and all living things. It is no threat to me... not now, and not ever." The Reaper's hand moved outward, the skeletal figure resting against Vlad's chest. Vlad winced and recoiled in pain as the hand began to glow with a soft green light that spread throughout his body like blood veins.

Vlad closed his eyes, his teeth clenching as if refusing to scream despite what must have been unbearable pain. The Reaper plunged his hand into the swirling vortex that was made of Vlad's true inner essence, the ghost inside of all living things. Slowly his hand withdrew, bringing with it the outer shell of Vlad's ghost form, the embodiment of who he truly was inside.

Vlad's ghostly form floated in the air as his human self began to go limp, collapsing to the floor with nary a sound. Without hesitation, the Reaper swung the blade of his scythe into the ghostly essence hovering before him, piercing it with the powerful blade.

Valerie could barely watch anymore, but she didn't look away. Vlad's ghostly form opened his mouth in a scream that never came as the scythe eagerly drank, draining the ectoplasm from the air before him in a single, quick wave. As quickly as it started, it had ended, and the Reaper was left floating over nothing but the empty shell of Vlad's corpse lying on the floor, pale-faced and unmoving.

Valerie looked away from the sight, barely able to register what she'd just seen. It was one thing to think about it, talk about it, even desire it. But to see it happen, to see a soul snuffed out like a candle in a brisk wind, was something else entirely. Was this what she'd been fighting for all this time? Was this what she'd been trying to do? The thought made her sick to her stomach.

"Yyyesss... I can feel it. The power of the human world is flowing through me! Human and ghost, the perfect harmony... utopia will soon be reality." The Reaper's voice faded for a moment. "Valerie?"

"Huh?" Valerie looked up and gasped when she realized the Reaper was hovering right in front of her. One skeletal fist closed around her throat, shoving her roughly up against the wall. "Ggrk!"

"You would not be thinking of betraying me, would you child?" The Reaper told her.

"N... no master." Valerie gasped out around his fist.

"Go, my acolyte. Help me destroy the flawed and painful human world, and turn it into a world of peace and prosperity. A perfect world!" He yanked her away from the wall and hurled her toward the entrance of the cavern. Valerie's body skipped across the ground until it slammed into the wall of the cavern. Valerie collapsed to her stomach in pain and remained there as the Reaper floated past her, ignoring her on the ground as he brandished his scythe in the growing night air outside the cavern.

Valerie looked up from the ground at Vlad's body lying in the middle of the cavern. She didn't want this... not anymore. But if she didn't, oblivion would be all she had to look forward to. So she pushed herself up from the ground and turned to follow her master, feeling strangely numb as she floated up into the sky and followed him toward the distant spires of city buildings that shone against the sunset in the distance.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	23. Tomorrow Comes Today

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 23: Tomorrow Comes Today

Danny sat on the sandy beach, staring out over the lapping ocean waves with Sam's lithe, strong body pressed up against his own. Their arms were wrapped around each other, their heads pressed together as they both watched the sea slowly fade into darkness when the sun faded beyond the horizon behind them. Ever so slowly the darkness began to creep over the world, enshrouding it in the starlit night that usually brought calm to the land, with nothing unusual in sight. The three ghosts had decided to retire to the Ghost Zone, not wanting to see the coming destruction.

Danny looked down at his watch. It had been an hour since the deadline Skulker had set for them. Was he lying? Or did something happen? Perhaps the worst part of this was not knowing what was happening. Had it begun, and they were just expecting it to come a little too suddenly? Maybe the Reaper was ravaging the world as they sat there, making his way in their direction. There was no way to know.

"Do you regret anything, Sam?" Danny asked softly. Sam shifted slightly in his arms as she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "If you knew it was all going to end today, do you think you would have done anything differently?"

"Yeah, I think there is something I would've done differently." Sam nodded sadly. "I would've done this a lot sooner." She leaned in and kissed him on the lips, having dropped her usual demeanor of callousness and sarcasm a while back. When she broke the kiss she pulled him closer to her, looking out across the rolling ocean waves. "It's weird. It almost feels like nothing is happening. Like nothing has happened."

"I know what you mean. It's easy to convince myself that this is just another night that's leading right into another, uneventful day." Danny smiled slightly. "It's easy to imagine that we still have a future."

"Yeah." Sam nodded. "What do you think you'd do with your future, Danny? After all of this."

Danny thought about it for a few moments, looking up at the first shining star that suddenly appeared in the sky overhead. "I always wanted to be an astronaut." He raised one hand toward the night sky. "I always wanted to fly into the stars and just... keep flying. Make the world and everything else I've ever done in my life seem small and insignificant. It was the coolest thing in the world to me."

"But if I did that... what would I do then?" Danny lowered his arm to his side. "I fly into space... and then what? Is that the end? Is that my entire future? Will everything I accomplish in my life be summed up in a single space flight? What happens when the future fades into the past?"

"I guess there's no way to stop that." Sam replied. "Everything passes, Danny. Nothing can last forever. Nobody lasts forever."

"I'm not so sure about that anymore." Danny looked over at Sam solemnly. The rising moon reflected off of the ocean waters, its silver light giving her face a shining, ethereal beauty that surpassed any ghost. "Maybe some things can last your whole life, and beyond..." He pulled her closer, raising a hand to brush her silver-streaked hair from in front of her eyes.

"Danny..." Sam said softly, half-closing her eyes as a cool breeze brushed over them both from the ocean.

"The future can last forever, if you look for the right things..." Danny told her softly. "We're about to lose everything, and look at us now."

"We still have one thing." Sam whispered softly into the wind. Without speaking again Danny leaned closer toward her, his arms tightening around her torso as his eyes closed. His lips pressed against hers as a sudden gust of cool wind blew over their bodies, a small whirlwind whipping up as they deepened their kiss, drinking in the comfort they had to provide one another. The only comforting thing left in this world that was about to end.

A soft sound drew Danny out of Sam's wondrous embrace, looking over his shoulder in the direction of the ocean. Lying on the warm sand between them and the ocean, Jazz was tossing and turning in fitful slumber. Her breathing grew heavier until at last her eyes began to open, though they were weak and tired.

Danny gently moved away from Sam's embrace, keeping her hand locked in his as he crawled toward his sister on his knees. "Jazz, are you okay?"

Jazz looked around in confusion. Now that he was closer, Danny could see that her eyes and cheeks were wet with recently shed tears. Her eyes turned to Danny, a flash of recognition lighting up her face.

"I feel... strange." Jazz said softly. "My head hurts."

"At least you're you again." Danny told her with a smile. Jazz nodded back, unsmiling. Danny's smile faded and he took one of her hands with his free one. "I'm sorry Jazz. I promised I wouldn't let it happen... but I did. I'm so sorry, Jazz."

"It's okay, Danny." Jazz told him. "I knew even if it happened, that you would come to rescue me. Ugh!" Jazz gulped in pain and raised one hand to her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "Ow... my head... it hurts so bad."

"Jazz?" Danny worriedly slipped his hand behind her head, but Jazz screamed in pain and he let her go. Her scream subsided; though she was still barely able to open her eyes for the pain. "Jazz, what did he do to you?"

"Danny, get back." Sam leaned forward suddenly. Danny looked at her in surprise, but she looked at him urgently. "I'm serious, back off. Trust me." Still wary but willing to do anything to help his sister, Danny released Sam's hand and stood to back away from them. To his surprise Jazz's panting slowed and she was finally able to relax, though only a little bit.

"What... what's happening to me?" Jazz panted in pain with her hands still clutching her head.

"I think..." Sam placed a hand to Jazz's head gently, then her eyes went wide and she looked back at Danny. "Danny, it's not over! She still has a piece of Vlad inside of her!"

"Wh... what?" Jazz's eyes went wide.

"I can't believe I didn't realize it. Vlad said at Ember's that he planted a piece of his own ectoplasm inside your head to give himself control. It must be how he planned to keep his control even at really long distances... and after he was gone" Sam looked down at her. "This is why you were able to use Ghost Powers... Vlad's ectoplasm gives it to you!"

"And if Jazz has some of those powers, that means those are powers the Reaper doesn't have!" Danny punched one fist into the other. "Which means we still have a fighting chance."

"Only if we can get the ectoplasm out of me before he realizes something's wrong." Jazz said softly. Sam and Danny both whirled on her in surprise, but neither of them could argue the point. Even without all of Vlad's ectoplasm, the Reaper was more than a match for them. They couldn't beat him, only keep him from getting the ultimate power he sought.

They all whirled in surprise when an explosion rocked the land. In the distance a massive fireball arced into the air, lighting up the midnight sky like a second sun. The sound of sirens echoed faintly in the distance while smoke poured into the air, obscuring those stars that had begun to emerge. The three of them exchanged a grim look as the flames arched higher into the air.

"Even the incomplete power he got from Vlad must be enough to energize him here." Sam reasoned.

"But it's still incomplete, so that means he must still be vulnerable here in the human world. Somehow." Danny turned to look at Jazz, looking into her eyes. He could still see something of the woman from before in them, driven into the back of her mind. She looked like she was still in pain with a hand holding her head, but she also looked as sharp and thoughtful as ever.

"I think I know." Jazz lowered her hand and approached Danny. As she neared him her eyes glazed over in pain, but she didn't cry out or show any outward sign of it. "Vlad's powers and yours... together they create the most powerful ghost the world has ever known. Maybe one of the most powerful beings on the planet."

"One of the most evil beings on the planet, you mean." Danny replied. "If you're going to suggest using HIM somehow, then forget it."

"No, Danny, he's exactly what we need... just with one more piece." Jazz grabbed his shoulders, keeping him from turning away from her. "That thing was pure ghost, a heartless being with no human element. The embodiment of the human consciousness without conscience. If you could recreate him now, as you are, as a human... you could take control of that power. The power of both ghost hybrids with the heart of a human and the ultimate power of life. A power the Reaper seems to fear, or he wouldn't have been so desperate to get his hands on it."

"This sounds great in theory, but I don't know what would happen if I tried to meld with Vlad's ectoplasm. He might overwhelm me even as a human. It could make things a thousand times worse! Besides, his ectoplasm is inside you, and I don't know how to remove it. Only Vlad had the knowledge and the equipment to separate human from ghost, and we don't have access to either of those anymore."

"There's always one way to remove ectoplasm from a body." Jazz replied.

"No!" Danny yelled furiously. Suddenly another explosion rocked the land, another blast of fire and smoke surging high into the sky to snuff out even more of the silently twinkling stars. "You have his powers... you could learn to use them and we could fight together."

"The Reaper absorbs normal ectoplasm, all of the normal ghost power in the world would be useless. But it could augment your powers so that you can stand a chance." Jazz took one of his hands in both of hers. He tried to pull it away, but she dragged his hand up and placed it gently on her forehead, closing her eyes. "It doesn't matter what happens, just do your best. Take what you need..."

"I'm not even sure how... and I don't want to hurt you, Jazz." Danny told her.

"You won't, Danny. I have faith in you... no matter what happens." Jazz didn't open her eyes, holding her hand against her forehead. Danny looked up at his hand, then closed his mouth in a grim line and phased his hand, pushing it inside of her skull. Jazz winced as his hand began pushing at her mental and physical mind, searching for some trace of the ectoplasm Vlad had left.

Sam watched from the side, clutching her hands in front of her worriedly as Danny's hand probed the inner recesses of his sister's mind. At last he felt something, a soft energy source from the center of her brain. It could be the ectoplasm... or it could be the link that held Jazz's own spirit inside her body. If it was that, and Danny tried to remove it, he could pull her ghost right out of her.

"I can't, Jazz... I won't." Danny said. "You deserve to live."

"So does everyone who's dying right now." Jazz replied simply. Another explosion from the direction of the city drove her point home. By now the sky was alight with fire, as if the sun had returned in full force.

Danny gritted his teeth and steeled himself before yanking the ectoplasmic energy out of her head with a swift tug. Jazz gasped and began to tumble back, but Sam leapt forward to catch her before she could hit the sand. Danny looked down at her in horror, but in a few moments he saw her eyes flutter open to look at him. In his hand he was clutching a shining ball of green energy the size of his fist. All that was left of Vlad's ectoplasm, the source of his ghost energy and the essence of his life.

Sam stood up in front of him, looking at the ball of energy clutched in his fist. "It's so beautiful." She said. Danny didn't think so. As he stared into the swirling ecto-energy, all he could hear in his mind was something his evil self had told him long ago.

I am inevitable.

"This could turn me into the most dangerous ghost on the planet." Danny raised the orb in front of him, caressing the ball with the fingers of his free hand. His body shifted in a flash of light into his ghostly form. "I already have evil in me, even without Vlad. What if I..."

"You won't, Danny." Sam told him. "We all have moments of weakness, but that doesn't make you evil. You are Danny Fenton, the most pure hearted boy I know."

Jazz stood up beside her, still wobbling and weak, but she looked much better now that Vlad's ectoplasm had been exorcised. "Remember Danny. The future isn't set in stone. Who we are is decided by who we've chosen to become. And unlike your dark future self, you've always tried to choose right." Danny looked past the orb at the two of them, then turned all of his attention on the swirling green energy. Suddenly, he brought it forward, plunging it deep into his chest.

He grunted at first, then howled in pain and fell to his knees as the tendrils of ectoplasm spread through his body like blood veins. He felt a pair of hands grab onto each of his arms, as Sam and Jazz grabbed him to keep him from collapsing to the ground. Danny gritted his teeth as the ectoplasm roared through his body, igniting every cell as if ready to rip him apart from the inside.

He let out a scream as his ghostly flesh faded into a pale blue pallor, and his ears sharpened. Sam and Jazz clung to him, refusing to let his thrashing dislodge them as his body continued changing, his ghostly suit changing from black to white and a long, flowing cape spreading outward from his back to fall from his shoulders to the ground behind him. His hair pulsed upward, blowing as if caught in a powerful vortex, but soon it faded into the normal white hue, though it continued to blow in the wind that came in from the ocean.

When it was over Danny hung from their arms, his eyes closed. He could hear them asking if he was alright, if he felt like himself. For a few moments he didn't know. There were all kinds of new thoughts and feelings swirling through his mind. Feelings more intense than any he'd ever known. Anger, resentment, hatred, despair, desperation. Were these the remains of what had driven Vlad throughout his life? Suddenly Danny understood everything he'd tried to do.

"Danny?" Sam's voice shook in concern. "Danny, are you okay?"

Danny opened his eyes slowly, looking up at her face. His eyes continued to shine with light green energy, rather than the deep red that had been brought by his last transformation. "I feel fine, Sam. I think I've got it under control." Sam smiled happily, clutching his arm a bit tighter. Sam and Jazz helped pull him to his feet, where he teetered a moment before he could gather his bearings.

"You look... um..." Jazz seemed to hesitate.

"I know." Danny looked down at his gloves, whose edges now extended from his elbows in almost blade-like fashion. "But it can't be helped. And it doesn't matter."

"That's right. What matters is that we go put an end to this madness once and for all. No matter what it takes." Sam exclaimed with a determined look on her face. "I think he's still in the city. If we hurry we can find him before-"

"We aren't doing this, Sam. I am." Danny told her firmly. Sam opened her mouth to complain, but Danny swept up to her, putting a hand over her lips while his other arm circled around her back. He pressed his forehead against hers, looking into her eyes. "You've done more for me than I ever imagined Sam. Physically, mentally... you've been everything I could possibly need through all of this. And in the future, I can only hope I'll be able to keep coming back to you."

Sam cocked her head curiously. "You believe in the future, now?"

"How can I not? You believe in me after all." Danny smiled. Sam smiled back up at him, and they leaned into each other for a deep, loving kiss. Jazz looked away from them nervously, looking out over the ocean, or down at her shoes, anywhere she wouldn't be watching them. At last Danny pulled himself away from her and stepped back, his ankles brushing against the rim of the cape that now flowed from his shoulders. "I'll be back." He told her without a trace of doubt in his voice.

"I know." Sam told him. "Now stop being mushy and go already." She grumbled. Danny smiled and turned away from her, looking in the direction of the flames that billowed into the midnight sky.

Danny's ghostly form took off into the sky, streaking quickly through the air until soon his body was lost against the golden glow of the flames inside the city. Sam and Jazz stood on the beach to watch, both of them clenching their fists with their lips pulled into a tight line. This was the last chance, the last hope. The final flight of humanity trying to fight against the ghostly menace. It was all in his hands now...

TO BE CONTINUED 


	24. Fighting Through the Darkness

'Til Death Do Us Part Chapter 24: Fighting Through the Darkness

The city was in flames. Powerful pyres of death that rose high into the air, smelling of charred steel and human remains that blanketed the entire city. As he flew Danny couldn't see much movement below him at first, those few people he saw lie still on the street while the flames burned mere inches away from them, and in some cases the bodies themselves continued to smolder long after the flames had eaten away all they could. Looking close inside the flames he could see shimmering green forms wandering in confusion. Ghosts recently freed from their mortal shells. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of them emerging onto the city streets. Their numbers stretched out into the distance until it was impossible to count.

All of the ghosts continued to wander in confusion, muttering incoherently among themselves without truly understanding what was going on. Danny watched them for a few moments, then forced himself to turn away as another explosion rocked the city. This time Danny had to raise his arms to deflect the heat from his face. His cape blew into the air behind him before the shockwave died down and he could lower his arms to look.

The Reaper was floating in front of a gas station, whose oil had been lit and was flowing freely into the air from the pump like a fountain of molten lava spreading across the city streets. Few people remained in the streets who could scream and run from the display, though run they did, in a gesture that almost seemed futile before the powerful figure. Valerie was standing beside him, watching the carnage with a strange expression on her face.

Danny floated down toward the two figures, landing behind them lightly. Valerie's head shifted slightly, then she turned to look back at him in surprise, her eyes going wide as she stepped into a fighting stance.

"Danny!?" She exclaimed. The Reaper turned to face him as well, the depths of his hood remaining black in the light of the flames around them. "What the Heck happened to you?" She looked him up and down, taking in his new form.

"You..." The Reaper's voice was a deep hiss. For a moment, Danny thought he detected a trace of fear. "It's not possible. Vlad Masters' spirit belongs to me."

"Guess you should've been more thorough." Danny lowered his hands to his sides, his cape flapping around his ankles as the wind blew in toward his back from the ocean. "Now I'm not in the mood for a lot of hero to villain banter, so I'll just tell you to go back where you belong, and leave everyone alone."

"No! I will prove to Chronos that his future was wrong! Valerie, destroy him!" The Reaper commanded with a wave of his scythe. Valerie glanced over at the robed figure, hesitating a moment before turning and leaping at Danny with a furious howl.

Danny spun out of the way with a flourish, bringing his hand around to slam his palm into her ankles, sending her off balance. Valerie landed on one foot, rolling across the ground for a few feet before spinning back upright on her heel, landing on both feet in a strong crouch with her arms expertly out in front of her. She leapt at him again, spinning through the air with her legs lashing out.

Danny danced back away from her, narrowly dodging her strikes as his hands deflected her legs off into different directions. Her arms struck out with lightning-fast blows, but Danny was able to deflect them as well, until finally he saw and opening to grab one of her wrists, twisting her around to yank it up behind her shoulder-blades. Valerie hissed as he yanked her arm upward.

"You're holding back." Danny told her. "You're much better than this."

"I don't hold back, ghost-boy." Valerie snarled and thrust her head back, slamming the back of her head into his face.

Danny stumbled back clutching his nose while she whirled, embedding one foot into his stomach to double him over before using his stomach as leverage to thrust her other leg off the ground, slamming the ball of her foot into the center of his forehead. Danny flew to his back with a heavy thump, grunting and clutching his nose. Valerie stepped up to him and slammed the heel of her boot into his throat, pushing it harshly against his windpipe. Danny gurgled and grabbed at her ankle, trying to pull her off of him.

"I've waited a long time for this, Danny Phantom." Valerie snarled. Her boot pushed tighter against his throat, until he could feel his windpipe closing under the strain. He closed his eyes and struggled to move her off of him, but he couldn't get good enough leverage, and his Ghost-Powers would be useless against her. He couldn't even phase through her since she was a ghost.

Danny struggled against her boot, straining with his eyes closed, until at last he stopped struggling and just lay underneath her. When he opened his eyes and looked into hers, he saw them full of anger and hatred. Feeling Vlad's frustration and anger, and having felt it himself in the past, he knew suddenly that she wasn't evil. She was hurt, and out of control. She was hurt because of what Danny had done to her most of all. He'd murdered her.

Danny closed his eyes again, feeling the pain of betrayal that Vlad had felt for the last two decades. The betrayal of having his dream world ripped away from him by the careless actions of someone he considered a friend. "Do it Valerie..." He told her softly. "If anyone deserves to kill me... you do." He lay sprawled out on the ground underneath her, no longer struggling or fighting.

Slowly he felt the boot on his throat ease, until he was finally able to breathe again. When he opened his eyes he could see her shivering, a soft shudder that spread through her body as she stared down at him. Over her shoulder the shadow of the Reaper blotted out the night sky, his scythe held just above her head.

"You hesitate, emissary. Destroy him, now. While he is off his guard." The Reaper demanded. "It is what you have been fighting for all this time. Do it!"

"I watched Vlad Masters die..." Valerie's voice shuddered. "And all of these people... all of these people who died for no reason. Just because you wanted to kill." Slowly she pulled her boot away from Danny's throat, stepping back away from him. "I can't do it... I just can't become that."

"Valerie?" Danny blinked in surprise.

"Then you are a useless spirit!" The Reaper raised the scythe high overhead, bringing it down in a massive arc.

"Shadow, retrieve!" A shouted command broke through the sound of crackling flames and lost screams.

Suddenly a black form weaved past Danny through the air, running into Valerie and carrying her out of harm's way right before the scythe came down. The force of the swing sundered the middle of the street, putting a crack across its entire length that crackled with ghostly energy. The Reaper ripped the scythe from the ground and looked up with a ferocious growl.

Danny climbed to his knees and looked behind him, his eyes going wide with shock. It was a sea of green glowing spirits from around the city, some with shining red eyes, others with more sullen, confused expressions on their faces. Danny was stunned to see Ember, Johnny, Technus, Desiree, Dora, Spectra, almost every ghost Danny had ever seen was gathered. Valerie was standing beside Kitty, who had a hand on her shoulder to support her. And beside her stood Tucker.

"Tucker? What's going on?" Danny asked confusedly.

"Brought the cavalry for you, Danny." Tucker replied with a slight smile. "I figure it's time I finally did something to help you out."

"Tuck..." Danny trailed off, but didn't have a chance to speak again before the Reaper spoke.

"You... you dare to defy my gift, spirits?" The Reaper growled in hate. "You dare to defy ME!? The being who is responsible for your perfect existence!?"

"Perfect?" Ember barked out a laugh. "Not the word I would use, dipstick! I don't know about the rest of these guys, but I wouldn't call living under your command perfect!"

"We're sick and tired of this." Johnny agreed. "And we're sick and tired of you."

"FOOLS!" The Reaper brought his scythe up and slammed the blade into the ground. The resulting shockwave of ecto-energy swept across the ground like a tidal wave, springing from the cracks that spread through the city streets like a spider's web. The ghosts began to yell and back away, but Danny leapt in front of them, throwing his arms out to the side as a brilliant green ecto-shield spread out from his hands to cover the crowd of ghosts.

The wave of energy slammed into the shield, but Danny grunted and raised his hands above his head, his hands pulsing with dark green energy. The wave didn't last long, soon dissipating enough for Danny to let the shield drop. He could feel his limbs wobbling though. Just that little exertion of his powers had taken some serious energy. Suddenly he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his promise to Sam.

"Stay back." Danny told the other ghosts without looking at them. "I'll do this, somehow."

The Reaper floated toward them, his skeletal hands closed tightly around his scythe. The ghosts behind Danny moved back in fear, even Ember and Johnny were cowed by the awesome display of ghostly power that would have destroyed them all in one sweep if not for Danny. "Your power cannot last forever, child. Mine can." The Reaper spread his arms to his sides. "Mine is the power of all the Ghost Zone."

Danny narrowed his eyes, finally putting it all together. "The power of the Ghost Zone? The power of the dead? What good is that in the world of the living?" Danny looked around discreetly for an advantage, but none offered itself. "I'll tell you. It's worthless. Even the lowest ghost here has more power than you do. You are just a worthless, powerless creature who's desperately trying to play God."

"WAS powerless, child." The Reaper growled. "Now thanks to Vlad Plasmeus, my power extends into the realm of the living."

"That power isn't complete... which means you're still vulnerable here." Danny's hands glowed with bright green energy. "And I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

"Come then child. Let us dance this pointless dance." The Reaper raised his scythe before him.

Danny threw himself forward, bringing his arms around with his palms together. His opening ecto-blast ripped through the air, leaving in its wake an energy wave strong enough to rip the asphalt from the street as the blast roared straight into the Reaper. The Reaper raised his scythe, and the ecto-energy seemed to burst before him into a soft green cloud before being absorbed into the long blade.

The Reaper whirled suddenly, releasing the scythe from his grip to send it spinning through the air toward Danny. Danny floated into the air to avoid it, but the scythe arched back around through the air and came back faster than he could move, the blade arching straight toward his heart. Danny put his hands up quickly, slamming his palms down on either side of the blade, struggling to keep it from plunging into his chest.

Suddenly the scythe spun out to the side, the blade slashing across the side of his stomach as it spun out of his hands, sending him into a helpless downward spin that ended with him hitting the ground ten feet below. The Reaper caught the handle of the scythe in one hand, bringing it down to hold it once again with both hands as he approached.

The Reaper brought the scythe up and brought it down again with the blade aimed at his heart, but Danny's body suddenly split into two, with the scythe plunging into the street right between them. Both Danny's spun to their feet as two more appeared on either side of the Reaper, all four bringing their hands up to unleash the most powerful ecto-blasts they could.

The four blasts merged into one in the center, the full force of all of them tearing into the Reaper's body. The ectoplasmic energy flowed through the robes and into the blade of the scythe, which rose high into the air, taking the streams of ecto-energy with it. The four Danny's stopped their assault as the Scythe swept downward in a wide arc that send a burst of energy flying around the Reaper's body. The shockwave slammed into all four Danny's, flinging them back away from the Reaper to hit the ground in a wide circle.

"When will you learn, child? Ectoplasm cannot defeat me. Nor can brute force." The Reaper laughed. "I have no weaknesses now. So lay back and die like you should have a long time ago."

Danny pushed himself to his hands and knees as the four merged back into one, facing away from the Reaper. He could unleash his Ghostly Wail, but he doubted it would work and it could leave him vulnerable to attack if it drained all of his ghost energy and left him human. But wait...

Danny grinned and slowly climbed to his feet, swaying a bit on his feet. "You're right. You're the most powerful ghost in the world... in either world." Danny turned to look at him with a broad grin on his face. "But even you have something to fear. The one thing you've never been able to touch for all these long centuries."

"I fear nothing, now." The Reaper raised his scythe over his head.

"You fear me!" Danny brought his palm around suddenly, throwing it ahead of him. This blast was not the green of ectoplasm, but pulsed with pure white light that tore straight through the fabric of the Reaper's robe. A furious, stunned howl echoed in Danny's mind as the Reaper floated back away from him. "Because I am the second most powerful ghost in either world, who can draw on the power that you could never destroy! The element that makes you tremble in fear! The power of life!"

"Once you die... that power will not exist! And neither will you!"

The Reaper brought his scythe up again, bringing it down to the street to send another massive shockwave hurtling across the ground toward Danny. Danny put his hands together in front of him before spreading them out to the sides, a glittering shield of white energy engulfing him. This time the ectoplasmic energy rebounded off of the shield, dissipating harmlessly into the air around them while Danny drew the white shield into the palm of his hands.

He unleashed the energy in a furious wave, but the Reaper vanished with a burst of black light. Danny gasped when he felt the blade rip through his back, knocking his cape into the air as Danny stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. He spun to his back and fired a pair of white beams behind him, but the Reaper had already vanished in another burst of black light, reappearing above his head with his scythe in mid swing.

Danny brought his hands up, glowing with bright white light to catch the blade between his palms. His hands came in from the sides as the blade drew closer to his head, inch by inch, closer and closer to putting an end to the fight right then and there. But Danny's hands struck home first.

The white energy struck both sides of the glittering green blade of the Reaper's scythe, and the blade shattered with a burst of light. The shards of the scythe rained down on either side of Danny's head as the handle stopped inched above his face. Where the blade snapped off the edge was a strange ectoplasm that dripped to the ground as if the blade itself was bleeding.

"Y... you..." the Reaper's voice shuddered in horror as he raised the scythe away from Danny's face, the faceless hood examining it. "It's impossible... my blade... it's impossible."

Danny climbed to his feet, clutching his hands in front of him. "They don't need you, Reaper. Now get back to oblivion where you belong!" Danny brought his hands to his side, cupping his hands so that pulsing white energy flowed from between his fingers. He brought his hands forward, the power surging in his palms, but suddenly a small body shot up from the ground in front of him, a tiny mouth opening as a furious scream erupted into the air with the force of a bomb blast.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" The scream roared through the air, tossing Danny back helplessly until he slammed into the crowd of ghosts behind him. He looked up to see Valerie and Tucker holding his arms, struggling to hold him steady as he tried to shake his head clear of the scream. When he looked down, he was startled to see what looked like a tiny ghost, nothing more than a mere child, standing in front of him. The little girl looked furious, but even so a deep sadness dwelt deep in her green eyes.

"Can't you see that it's over!?" The child demanded tearfully. "You don't need to hurt him anymore!" The crowd of ghosts was stunned into silence at the suddenness of it all. But the girl didn't care. She turned slowly to face the Reaper. Her dress hung off of one shoulder, and her hair was up in a bun in a style that Danny had never seen before. He couldn't make out exactly when she was from. It was nothing he'd ever even heard of before.

"Who is this?" Tucker murmured to himself curiously. Danny blinked, something suddenly emerging into the front of his mind. Clockwork's words. Until one day we watched as a young child grew sick, a girl no older than three years of age.

"It's her..." Danny pushed himself to his feet with Tucker and Valerie's help. "The first ghost."

"Angel..." The Reaper's voice echoed in their minds, a soft, almost pained tone that seemed strange and new. Even stranger was that the thick black robe was hanging limp as if from a clothesline, the skeletal hands clutching the hard ground while the staff of the shattered scythe lay forgotten on the street beside him. "You ran away from me. Where did you go?"

"I couldn't watch anymore, Azrael." The girl called Angel replied sadly. "I couldn't watch what you were becoming. It broke my heart..."

"All I have done... I have done to ensure that there is no more suffering in the world. A perfect world, Angel... a world free of pain, and sorrow, and struggle..." The Reaper replied. "A world that could never reject you, or anyone like you."

"A world without life is a world without meaning!" The little girl shouted back, stamping her foot like a toddler having a temper tantrum. "You can't understand because you were never alive... but look at this boy." She turned back to Danny, sweeping her arm out to indicate him. "He has survived these last few days. Driven by fear and desperation. Assaulted by uncertainty and pain at every turn. And look at him now, Azrael. He is stronger than he has ever been. He is stronger than you, all BECAUSE of the pain he has endured!"

"Suffering is... not right." The Reaper replied.

"Yet in your blind haste to eliminate it... you have caused more suffering than any being in existence, Azrael." The little girl moved closer, lifting a hand to touch the side of the robed figure's hood. "You have hurt so many people, through your arrogance and your anger. Worse yet, you have trapped people in their own pain." She glanced back at the others, her gaze lingering on Valerie, who looked down and turned away from her. "It must end, Azrael. It cannot be like this forever."

The Reaper didn't respond. The robe shifted slightly, drooping more into the arms of the girl who held onto it. "Let me see your eyes. Let me see the face of the being who wanted so badly to save me."

"I cannot." The Reaper's voice was barely a whisper in their minds now. The girl didn't listen to him, her hands moving across the fabric to the front of the hood where they clutched the hem and shoved it back.

The ghosts in the group gasped and stepped back as the hood fluttered back and fell against the back of the robe. The Reaper's head was little more than pulsing green ectoplasm, so thin that Danny could see the flames that continued to burn beyond. The formless ball of ectoplasm seemed to shift toward the girl, who seemed as stunned by this as all the rest of them. One skeletal hand rose slowly to touch the ectoplasm, fading right through it.

"Even my power has limits..." He said softly.

"You've truly given so much of yourself to the ghosts..." Angel's voice shuddered. "And yet you continue... you continue to create more and more of us. You will destroy yourself, even with the power of life on your side."

"To see my world... I would give all I have." The Reaper replied. "But with my scythe destroyed, Plasmeus' power is lost... the hope for my world is lost."

"Good." Angel told him. "Your world was a delusion. Just as this world is an illusion."

"Angel..." Azrael's eyes shimmered, as if droplets of moisture were running down only partly visible cheeks.

"You know what must be done, Azrael. It's not worth it... don't sacrifice yourself for mere memories. Don't sacrifice life for this delusion of a perfect world." Angel smiled sadly, tears dripping down her own cheeks to drop against the pavement below. "Because the only perfect world is one that can grow."

"I understand... Angel." Azrael's robe fluttered and suddenly fell to the ground, the skeletal hands clattering limply to the street. The ectoplasmic being floated above the robes, its shimmering form turned red by the flames that continued to burn around them. "This was my gift to humanity."

"It was a generous one. But one that we cannot accept." Angel replied. "As we were all able to live our lives, however short they were... you too deserve to live in your own manner, Azrael. Waste no more of yourself on us... and move on."

Azrael nodded slowly, and his body began to shimmer, slowly fading into the sky around them. When he was gone Angel turned back to the crowd of ghosts, moving to approach them with a blank expression on her face. It was so weird, looking at this little girl with such a grim and intelligent demeanor. But then, there was no way Danny could know how old she was. She could have been born before known history.

"Danny Phantom." The girl told him solemnly. "Because of your courage and power, the scythe has been destroyed... and Azrael can return once again to his rightful home. As can we all." Her gaze turned away from him, looking out across the sea of ghosts that had gathered behind him. "Do not be afraid. No matter what comes next..." The girl raised her hands slightly to the sides. Suddenly her arms began to shimmer, the ghostly ectoplasm slowly breaking away from her main body. "We will always be who we are."

"What's happening?" Danny asked in alarm as the girl's body slowly faded into the air before him.

"Without Azrael's influence, the spiritual energy is returning to its natural state. We are free now... as is all the life on this planet. Thanks to you, Danny Phantom." The girl closed her eyes and let her body slowly slip into the air before him, fading away until the last remnants of her ectoplasm blew away from him on a steady wind that whipped through the burning city. Danny watched her ectoplasm until it faded, then looked to the side, surprised to find the same thing happening to all of the ghosts around him.

Ember looked down at her arms, her eyes going wide at first as the ectoplasm leaked out of her body and into the air around her, whirling into the growing stream of energy that flowed from all of the ghosts around her. "Guess this is it... the grand finale." She smirked slightly. "No more endless days for me... guess it's about time to take a well-deserved rest."

"B... but... I didn't mean for this... wait." Danny stammered, stumbling around toward the ghosts as they slowly vanished. "I didn't mean for this to happen! Wait!" Danny whirled back around, looking back to see Tucker and Valerie approaching him from behind. Their bodies, too, were beginning to shimmer and evaporate into the air. "Tucker, no, not you too."

"Don't have much choice in the matter, Danny." Tucker told him with a bright smile. "Try to relax. It's for the best, really. Being like this... feels kind of funny."

"For a long time... it felt like I wasn't even myself." Valerie stepped forward. For the first time since she'd become a ghost, her eyes had lost their blood red pallor. Her expression had softened, and her face was glowing just like it had for those few short weeks when she and Danny had been together. She flashed him a grateful smile. "But now, I feel cleansed. Y'know?"

"Valerie, Tucker, please. There's got to be something I can do. I don't want to lose you. Not like this. Not forever." Danny pleaded. "At least as ghosts you're not really gone..."

"And maybe that's the problem." Tucker told him. His body was drifting away faster now, his form growing more transparent by the moment. "If we never die, if we never have to grieve... what makes us really live?"

"And who says it's forever?" Valerie added. "Maybe there's something better than the Ghost Zone. Maybe it's about time we found out."

"No! NO!" Danny lunged forward, wrapping his ghostly arms around them to try to hold them, but he could feel their essence slipping away between his fingers. "So much has changed! So much has happened! Please! Not this! Not this!"

"We'll see you on the other side, Danny." Tucker told him with a sly wink. "Count on it."

Valerie smiled and stared into his eyes, planting a soft, ghostly kiss on his cheek. Danny could barely feel it, since her essence was so thin. "I'm so sorry, Danny... all this time, I never knew what was happening... I didn't even know what was happening inside of me. Whatever you did to me, whatever I always hated you for... I forgive you." Her voice was growing softer now as the last of her ghostly essence drifted away. Her last words were spoken as if drifting in on the wind. "And maybe you can forgive me."

"No! Tucker! Valerie! NO!" Danny clutched at the air, but the last of their ectoplasm drifted through his fingertips, floating away from him to join the growing flood of energy that moved across the night sky. Danny sank to his knees, holding his arms to his chest though he knew he wasn't holding anything anymore. Just a memory... a memory that was even now drifting away on the wind above him.

"Tucker..." Danny squeezed his eyes shut. He had endured so much. He had fought so hard. He had kept the faith alive for so long through even the most hopeless times. Only to be met with this. He could feel the tears sliding down his cheeks for the first time since this had all begun. All this time he hadn't allowed himself to cry... but he could hold it back no longer.

The ectoplasm over his head slowly began to fade into the glowing night sky, vanishing to leave no trace behind. It wasn't fair. After all of this, it just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair to him, and it certainly wasn't fair to Tucker. Whose only mistake was being friends with Danny. Now, because of Danny, he wasn't even a ghost. It was as if he no longer existed... all because he'd gotten caught in the middle of Danny's struggle.

"It's not fair..." Danny's fists clenched tightly on the ground in front of him. It was all because of the Reaper. Tucker deserved to live more than anyone... he had been by Danny's side for all these years just because they were friends. He put himself in danger all the time, and stuck his neck out for him every day. He deserved to live... if he couldn't...

"It's not FAIR!" Danny threw his head back in a furious scream, his anger and frustration exploding from his mouth in a powerful Ghostly Wail. Unhindered by Danny's lack of power, the wail rocked the city streets like it was sitting on a fault line. Even the flames that continued to burn throughout the city seemed to shudder before it. One of the buildings close by simply shattered as if struck by an invisible fist, the debris flying through the air to rain down around Danny as the Ghostly Wail subsided and he climbed to his feet, his cape whipping through the air behind him from the powerful whirlwind the Ghostly Wail had created.

Anger. Despair. Resentment. All of these feelings were burning through his mind. He understood now more than ever how Vlad had felt. To have something so precious ripped away by circumstance. To see a life that should have been lived snuffed out before it had even had a chance to really begin. There was nothing he could do about it... but let his anger go.

"RAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Danny thrust both of his arms forward, a powerful ecto-blast leaving a trail of destruction in its wake as it punched through cars and buildings alike. Danny could see clear through to the road that left Amity Park by the time the blast subsided, but he wasn't finished yet. He flung himself into the air and brought his arms down again, another blast slamming into one of the gas pumps at the burning gas station. The explosion sent flames flying through the air, igniting everything in the area, while Danny simply let the flames pass through his body harmlessly.

He moved through the city, his anger uncontrollable as he blasted anything he could see. He didn't see any people around, they had all probably fled when the Reaper was sweeping through the city. It allowed him to rip through the city like a furious hurricane, destroying everything in his path without worry or regret. Though he wasn't sure if he would regret it if they were there. He had to admit, it felt wonderful. He'd spent so long bottling up his anger and frustration. He never knew what it was like to let it out.

He approached the opposite end of the city, his ecto-blasts ripping through everything he could see. He stopped when he heard a soft sound. It was a strange whimpering noise, barely audible over the crackling of the flames that were slowly but surely consuming the entire city. He turned to move towards the noise, stepping over the debris and rubble until he turned and saw a child hiding behind a support beam that had fallen out of a nearby building.

Tucker had to die... and yet this girl got to live? It didn't seem right... it wasn't fair. Danny raised his hand slowly, pointing his palm toward the girl as an orb of powerful green energy materialized in his palm. The girl screamed in terror and huddled in on herself, sobbing on the ground.

"STOP!" A familiar voice screamed as someone leapt on Danny from the side. Instantly Danny's arm came around, pressing his palm into his attacker's stomach to fire an ecto-blast straight into it. The body hurled through the air away from him to hit the ground several yards away with a heavy thump and a groan of shock and pain. Danny turned toward his attacker, and his eyes went wide.

"Sam?" Danny stuttered. Sam rolled to her side, her arms holding a stomach blackened and burned by the intense ecto-blast.

"Danny, don't do this." Sam grunted through teeth clenched with pain. "I don't know what happened, but you have to stop this."

"Tucker... Valerie... they're both gone." Danny replied. "They're gone completely, and forever."

"That doesn't justify this. Please, Danny, don't listen to whatever your head is telling you. Listen to me." Sam grunted in pain and pushed herself up to her knees. She moved to stand, but stopped when Danny raised one glowing palm in her direction. "You're... you're going to blast me?"

"I... I don't know." Danny shook his head. "I'm just... just so ANGRY! At everything! Nothing is fair! I've gone through all of this for what!? To destroy the people I cared about!? To have my entire life ripped away from me!?"

"Danny, you have to calm down." Sam's voice was shuddering in fear. "This isn't you talking. This isn't who you are."

"What makes you think this isn't me? Huh? I murdered Valerie already, maybe I just needed a reason to do it some more!" Danny insisted.

"It's your eyes, Danny. They're not your eyes." Sam told him. Danny's expression softened in surprise, and slowly he turned his head to look to the side. In the reflection of a nearby store window he could see little. But he could still make out a pair of glowing blood red eyes in the filthy glass. For a split second, he thought he could see a dark reflection of the future starting back with a victorious grin.

"My eyes..." Danny turned to look down at his hand, where the ecto-energy had gathered into a ball aimed straight at Sam's chest. His arm began to shudder and he pulled it back, letting the energy dissipate in his grasp.

"Danny, you have to turn back into a human." Sam slowly pushed herself up from the ground until she was standing in front of him. "Vlad's ectoplasm must be corrupting your ghostly mind."

"I... can't..." Danny clenched his fist. He could feel the rage. He didn't want to go back to being a simple human. He was more than that. He could make the world suffer as he had suffered. As Tucker had suffered. With Vlad's power combined with his own, and the Ghost Zone obliterated, he would be utterly unstoppable.

"You have to, Danny! Fight it! The ghost doesn't control you!" Sam shouted.

"Shut up! You're confusing me!" Danny thrust one palm forward, an ecto-blast roaring through the air. Sam didn't move an inch, but the blast flew right past her head to slam into a car with enough force to send it hurtling through the side of a building with a monstrous crash that echoed through the city streets. Danny stood and looked at what he had done with his hand outstretched, his arm shaking and his breath coming in quick, horrified gasps.

"Danny, listen to me." Sam spoke in a soft tone, slowly moving towards him. "The Reaper couldn't touch humans because he could control only the spirit, and a real human always has power over his spirit. You aren't a ghost, you're a human. So even if your ghostly side is vulnerable, the strong, kind human boy who's waiting inside can still beat it. He defeated the Reaper, and he can defeat the ghost inside of himself."

"It's just not right..." Danny croaked out, clenching his fists. "This isn't what I meant to happen... I didn't mean for the ghosts to be wiped out, I didn't mean for Tucker or Valerie to die. Sam, I..."

"I know all of that." Sam stepped forward, until she was almost close enough to touch him. "But what's done is done. Destroying everything in the world wouldn't take it back. And it wouldn't make you, or anyone else, happy." Sam took the final step toward him, so that she could reach out and take one of his hands in hers. "But I can tell you right now what would make me happy."

Danny looked down at her hand, then up into her eyes. Suddenly he felt an immense rage building inside of him, and his grip tightened on her hand. Did she deserve to live while Tucker deserved to be wiped into oblivion? Wait...

"No..." Danny closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, no more!" Danny raised his free hand to his head, trying to block out the anger and resentment. "I won't do it! I'll never do it!"

"Fight, Danny!" Sam shouted from beside him. "You can beat the ghost! Become Danny Fenton! The real Danny!"

"I... can't..." Danny fell to his knees, his body shuddering as the ectoplasm began to surge through his very being, as if trying to take control of him. "The ghost won't go away. Get away from me Sam... before I hurt you..."

"Forget that." To Danny's surprise, Sam dropped to her knees in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in close to her. "We're fighting this together, Danny. I told you I wouldn't let the Reaper kill you. I won't let Danny Phantom kill you either." She rested her forehead against his, staring into his glowing red eyes. "Come on Danny... enough talking. Fight it!"

Danny grunted, his hands reaching up around her. They were glowing with enough ectoplasmic power to rip her apart in a second with nothing more than a touch. His hands closed around her back, moving closer and closer.

They gently touched the top of her back, over her shoulder blades. The ectoplasm gone, his hands clutched at her back tightly. Sam let him cling to her, her own hands gripping his back and holding him close, as if trying to hold his head above churning ocean waves.

"Sam..." Danny grunted and closed his eyes. "Help... me..." Danny growled and yelled, throwing his head back as the ectoplasm surged one last time, roaring over his body in a wave so strong that, for a moment, it also engulfed Sam. The ectoplasm leapt from Danny's body and ripped into the night sky, the powerful form of Danny Phantom with blood red eyes and a mouth lined by vicious fangs.

An unearthly shriek split the air as the ghost came back down abruptly. One clawed hand wrapped around Sam's throat, slamming her head back into the ground with a heavy thud. Sam gasped and screamed in pain, her hands clutching at the ghostly wrist, but unable to do anything about it.

"No! Stop!" Danny screamed desperately. "Don't hurt her!"

"Do not deny me. Do not deny yourself." The ghost grinned, one wickedly hooked finger running down Sam's jaw to her throat. "The urge to kill... to make them feel our pain. It burns within you... or I would not exist."

"We all have our dark impulses." Danny closed his eyes and slowly climbed to his feet. "Vlad had his reasons. Valerie had hers. I know I have them too. I do want to hurt people... to make them suffer. It's controlling those impulses that makes the difference between a good person and a psychopath. And I will never become that. Just like I will never allow you to hurt anyone! Now LET HER GO!" Danny screamed at the top of his lungs, clenching his fists at his sides.

A pair of powerful white rings surrounded Danny's body, pulsing outward. The ghost holding Sam against the ground began to shudder, jerking away from her. Sam gasped for breath and scrambled back away from the ghost, who turned to face Danny with a vicious look in his eye.

"You cannot control me!" The ghost howled.

"A human always has control over his spirit!" Danny shouted back. "I will always have control over you!" He grunted and strained, the white rings engulfing the ghost in front of him. The ghost howled in fury, bursts of ectoplasmic energy trying to break the rings to no avail. The rings closed around the ghost tightly, trapping its essence into a whirlwind of power that drew it slowly towards Danny's body.

"You cannot contain me forever. Times of fear, doubt, and sorrow. During those times you will come to me." The ghost grinned evilly. "And I will be the one to make everything better. It is inevitable."

"You are mine to control!" Danny shouted back angrily. "And I say BEGONE!" The rings of pure white light drew the ghost in, its shimmering form settling over Danny's body, reverting back to the half-ghost form. Danny grunted and strained, closing his eyes tightly and clenching his teeth. With a furious howl the rings of light appeared around his waist again, and swept over his body in a swift motion.

Danny Fenton, human and alive, began to fall forward to the ground, but a pair of strong arms wrapped around his chest to catch him.

"Danny, you did it!" Sam exclaimed happily, kneeling on the ground and pulling his head gently against her chest. "You did it Danny. You did it. I knew you could do it." Her deep violet eyes were shining with moisture as she looked down at him.

"I'm sorry I hurt you." Danny said weakly.

"Danny..." Sam wrapped her arms tighter around him, pulling him into a firm hug against her chest. "It's alright. I'm alright. You're alright." Danny looked up at her, but when he detected movement nearby he turned to watch Jazz approach from the pillar, holding the little girl from before gently in her arms. Danny could remember what he'd been about to do.

"Danny, you're okay!" Jazz exclaimed in relief. The little girl was huddled against Jazz's chest, her wide eyes filled with sheer terror.

"Yeah. Just fine." Danny looked away from the girl, unable to meet those horrified eyes. He looked up at Sam as she gently slipped her arms onto his back and helped him climb to his feet, keeping her hands on his shoulders to keep him steady while he regained his strength.

They all looked to the side slightly when they heard police sirens in the distance, approaching the city at a rapid pace.

"This is it Danny." Sam smiled. "We can go home. Leave all of this behind and look to the future you just gave us."

"The future..." Danny looked up to the sky, but it was completely obscured by the thick black smoke that rose from the remains of the city. "Yeah. The future." He looked down at her with a slight smile, reaching up to grasp one of her hands tightly in his... and pull it away from his shoulder. "A future without Tucker... or Valerie... or anything I knew before." He turned away from her, looking out across the city to wait for the police to arrive. They would never guess he was partially responsible for this, there was no danger here. But that didn't mean he could relax. There was still so much to figure out, he didn't know if he could ever come to grips with it.

TO BE CONTINUED 


	25. It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

'Til Death Do Us Part Epilogue: It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday

The cold, silent laboratory that sat underneath the Fenton Works building seemed a perfect match for Danny's mood as he stood in front of the now inert Ghost Portal. Once, it had opened into a world beyond anyone's imagination. A realm where the dead would exist forever and loved ones would never truly die. Now the device was still active, yet no portal opened before him. It was nothing more than a tube of useless wires and technology that led nowhere.

His hands rose to rest against the steel that made up the outside of the portal. A rented tuxedo hung from his scrawny frame, while a red tie rested against his chest as he stared into the device. He was waiting for it to activate and some unspeakable horror to attack him from somewhere beyond. Waiting for Tucker to emerge as a ghost and tell him he was really still there, that he really still existed. He would even like to see Valerie emerge and come after him guns blazing.

He didn't react when he heard a pair of soft footsteps reach the bottom of the basement stairs, stopping near the exit. "We're going to be late, Danny." Jazz told him softly. When he didn't respond she stepped closer to him. "Are you okay? You've been spending a lot of time down here the last two weeks."

"It's just so much to take in, Jazz." Danny shook his head and closed his eyes. "Everything's different now. Tucker's gone, Valerie's gone, Vlad's gone, the Ghost Zone is gone. Even I've changed..." Danny slipped his hands off of the Fenton Portal to look down at his palms, staring at them blankly. "It's like everything I knew before is just... gone."

He listened to Jazz walk up behind him, not turning to look back at her. She stopped right behind him and her arms wrapped comfortingly around his torso from behind, wrapping around his chest. "I know you're going to miss the past, Danny. Losing something... or someone... that's been such a huge part of your life. It's like being thrown into a whole new world. And when it's someone you cared about... it's like having a piece of your own heart ripped away from you. But you still have so much to live for, including me... and most of all, Sam."

"I guess... I guess I took for granted that Tucker would always be there, like he always has been." Danny turned around slowly to look back at his sister. She was wearing a formal black dress that hung off of her frame, accompanied by a pair of elbow-length black gloves and even a black umbrella hanging from the crook of her arm, since a series of thick storm clouds seem to have overtaken the city over the last two weeks. "I didn't even tell him goodbye, Jazz."

"That's what today is for, Danny." Jazz smiled kindly and held one hand out to him. "To say goodbye, so we can go on with our lives." Danny looked down at her hand, then looked unsmiling up at her eyes as he reached out to take it. "Come on, the others are waiting."

Danny nodded, and Jazz turned to lead him up the basement stairwell into the living room, where their parents were standing near the door, waiting. When they emerged, Maddie looked at him with a gentle smile and wrapped him in a tight hug. Normally Danny would object, but not now. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning into her comforting embrace until she let him go and stepped back, taking a handkerchief out of her black dress to gently wipe at his eyes.

When she finished she moved back and her husband stepped forward wearing his massive, way-too-tight black tuxedo, slapping a hand on his shoulder so hard he almost knocked him to the floor. Jack didn't say anything, just smiled down at his son in that strangely energetic way he had before looking over his shoulder and moving to the side, allowing Danny to see beyond.

Sam was standing in the middle of the room, a black silken dress drifting down her frame like a luxurious robe, though it left her ankles bare, where he could see her old pair of thick steel-toed boots. Like Jazz, she wore a pair of black gloves that went up to her elbows, but she also wore a thin black veil over her face, which she pushed out of the way with one hand so she could give him a gentle, sad smile.

Danny smiled sadly and walked toward her, opening his arms to wrap them around her waist, pulling her close so he could rest his cheek against her shoulder. Her hands ran over his back tenderly, and he felt her plant a soft kiss on his cheek. A few moments passed before a pair of footsteps moved up beside them, and a pair of hands landed on their shoulders.

"We'll be in the RV when you're ready." Maddie told them. He felt Sam nod and heard the sound of his parents' footsteps heading toward the front door. Reluctantly Danny pulled his head off of Sam's cheek, resting his forehead against hers as he stared through the black veil into her deep violet eyes.

"I can still feel it, Sam." Danny told her softly. "I can still feel the ghost inside me. Angry... wanting to lash out. To hurt people."

"It doesn't matter." Sam shook her head. "You, Danny Fenton, are stronger than any ghost."

"But if it does get out some day..." Danny began before Sam interrupted him.

"It won't, Danny." She smiled. "How many times do I have to keep telling you this? I won't let any ghosts hurt you. Not the Reaper, and not Danny Phantom."

Danny smiled and chuckled slightly. "Guess I'm just a slow learner." He pulled away from her, holding both of her hands in his. "I'll just have to get used to being the containment unit for the last ghost."

"And I'll be your lock and key." Sam nodded with a smile. They turned to leave, their hands clutching one another as they made their way out front to the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle.

Jazz leaned against the wall beside the door, watching them leave with her arms crossed over her chest. When they were gone she looked down at the floor, moving her hands to run her fingers down to her stomach. "The last ghost huh...? We'll see..."

"Take care of that child, Jasmine." A voice from further inside the house made Jazz jump and look around in a panic. When she spotted a powerfully built ghostly form floating near the kitchen in a thick blue cape that hung down its frame to scrape the floor, she turned to scream, but he spoke before she could. "Please, do not be afraid. I come in peace, you have my word."

"Who are you?" Jazz demanded.

"My name is Clockwork." The ghostly figure floated closer. To her astonishment his form shifted without warning, replaced by that of a chubby infant, though his voice didn't change. "I have just come to say goodbye."

"Clockwork?" Jazz exclaimed in surprise. "But Danny said all the ghosts were gone." She glared at him suspiciously, but he merely smiled a kind and gentle smile that looked oddly natural on his child's face. "What are you?"

"I am a friend." Clockwork floated across the room to stop beside her, looking out the front window where Danny and Sam were trying to argue that their seats didn't need six seatbelts. His form shifted again to that of an old man. "What else is there that matters?"

"Hmm." Jazz didn't like the answer, but decided to let it drop as she turned to look out the window with him, watching her brother. "So you can see the future, right?"

"I can see the river of time flow, and the places where it might lead. But what will come to pass always depends on the decisions of the individual." Clockwork replied.

"Please, just tell me one thing." Jazz looked at her brother sadly. "Will he ever turn? Will the ghost ever take him over completely?" She looked away form the window, staring up into Clockwork's suddenly solemn red eyes. "I don't need some philosophical lesson... just please. I have to know."

"The darkness in his future heart was born of Vlad Plasmeus... but fueled by Danny's own hopelessness and despair. If those two elements combine, it will bring once again the future that he has fought to prevent." The ghostly figure shook his childish head. "So I suppose, Jasmine, that his future is in your hands. And Sam's. To keep him from becoming consumed by loss and rage."

"We'll do everything we can." Jazz nodded solemnly.

"I know that you will." Clockwork turned away from the window. "The rivers of time are many, from this point forward. Danny has an infinite number of futures awaiting his choices." Clockworked looked at her over his broad, powerful shoulder. "But looking now at the present, I believe in my heart that he will be just fine." Jazz smiled back warmly. "I should not stay too long, so please do pass along my well wishes to Danny."

"I'll be sure to do that." Jazz nodded. Clockwork nodded back gratefully and turned to float back toward the kitchen, but Jazz suddenly thought of something. "The Reaper." Clockwork stopped, though he didn't turn to look back at her. "Where is he now? What happened to him?"

"He is where he belongs." The old ghost looked back at her kindly. "As are we all. Take care of yourself, Jasmine. And watch over your brother. There may yet be difficult times ahead for him." He turned away and left through the kitchen, leaving Jazz staring after him. Despite his reassurances, she was still pretty troubled by all of this.

"Jazz?" Jazz almost jumped out of her skin when Sam spoke from right beside her. She whirled on the shorter girl, who stepped back in surprise. "Whoa! Calm down there. What's taking so long? Are you coming?"

"Y-yeah. I'm coming." With one last glance back at the kitchen, Jazz turned to follow Sam out to the Fenton RV. This knowing the future stuff was a bit spooky. But not knowing the future was scarier, she thought to herself as she climbed in the RV and saw Danny strapped into four seatbelts on one of the solid steel benches. She watched him for a few moments, then slipped into the seat nearest the door, looking down at her abdomen as she sat. So much uncertainty going forward... but she would do her best to make sure their future was bright.

THE END

Author's Note: This was a long story, written after a very long writing drought where I didn't write anything at all. I hope to write more in the future, time will tell if it's fan work or that original novel I've been trying to write for months. But thank you for reading through this sprawl, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And thank you so much for the enthusiastic reviews throughout the story. Every single one of them put a smile on my face. I just hope I put a couple smiles on yours... and maybe a tear or two. 


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